


The Hidden Child

by LadyDeb



Series: Birthright [7]
Category: Doctor Who, The Avengers (2012), Torchwood, Torchwood: Children of Earth - Fandom, Torchwood: Miracle Day
Genre: Alice won't allow herself to be used against her father, F/M, Gen, Rassilon isn't impressed with her temper tantrums, Suzie discovers there are unexpected consequences to her actions in helping to save Jack, Tosh is back and determined to protect those she loved in life, occasional salty language, the Gelfth return, there are more family secrets in the Tregarth family tree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-11-24 02:38:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 70,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/629373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDeb/pseuds/LadyDeb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old villain returns to wreak havoc ... but there's also an old friend determined to protect those she loved in life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything They Ever Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> And now, we’ve reached the seventh story in the Birthright series. The previous stories were: The Rising, Torn Asunder, The Sleeper Awakens, The Homecoming, Reap the Whirlwind, and To Whom Much is Given. If you’ve not read those stories, I strongly recommend you do … it’ll answer questions about the Tregarths, and when Owen came back. There are (not including this story) four stories remaining for Birthright. That will be followed by a new arc, tentatively titled Redemption. Coming up, we have The Two Captains, Master of the Game, Dite’s Favor, and a final story to wrap up Birthright and launch Redemption. In this chapter, our villains make their plans to come back … and a few missteps, as well.

Disclaimer:  Jack, Owen, Esther, Rex, Rassilon, Alice/Melissa, Tosh, Jilly and Suzie don't belong to me.  Nor do the Families or the Gelfth (not that I'd want to claim either of them).  The Tregarths and the denizens of Dupres, Oklahoma do.  Don't mind if you borrow them, just ask first and return them reasonably intact.

 

 

Prologue

 

Everything They Ever Wanted

 

 

When they first tried to come through, the child Gwyneth was chosen because she wasn’t particularly bright.  Well, yes … she was clairvoyant, but that wasn’t the whole reason.  Nor was it her lack of education.  Truthfully, she was somewhat simple-minded, even for a human being.  Witness her chastising her employer for the re-animated corpses … as if _he_ could control a superior being!  Simple minded and with very little in the way of what humans called ‘common sense.’  And yet, for all that, she still managed to stop them.  Not defeat them, no … and she couldn’t send them back.  But she stopped them and held them in place … until a new doorway opened up for them.  It was quite mortifying to be bested, much less by a human being.

To their kind, time didn’t have the same meaning as it did for humans.  Thus, what was a matter of months, or even years, in the human world … well, it wasn’t like that for them.  The hardest part of their new campaign in reaching their new outlet was getting past the Guardians of the Rift, but once more, a simple-minded human helped them.  Evidently, she had a habit of making trouble, and not even her age-mate could keep her out of trouble all the time.  Regardless, they were able to use her to bypass the Guardians … or rather, distract them.

By the time the Guardians realized they were through the Rift and beyond their power, it would be entirely too late.  And just as they did in Cardiff 1869, they chose a youngster with more power than intelligence.  She was touched by the Rift, they realized quickly, another child of the Rift.  Because long before the Rift in Cardiff was closed, this vein was just waiting for the right person to open it.  It was a source of great, untapped power … untouched and _so_ rich.  Now the Rift was open, and let humanity beware.

The Gelfth were returning, and this time, they intended to reap their full harvest.  Humanity could not stand against them.  Torchwood could not stand against them.  The bodies of Earth were their reward for their patience, for what the Time War and the Time Lords did to them.  But, to ensure that they would receive that which was their due, they had a secret weapon, something that would effectively neutralize Torchwood.

They weren’t the first to make that mistake.  Nor would they be the last.

 

TBC


	2. Context is Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter sees the aftermath of another argument between Natalie and Jack; while Toni Weber begins to realize something unpleasant is coming through the Rift. But a beautiful young Japanese woman with an English accent reassures her that she isn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camellias indicate excellence and steadfastness according to iflorist.com and I think ‘steadfastness’ sums up Esther very well.

Tregarth Homestead, Oklahoma

Early April, 2012

  

“It really must suck to be you right now, mate … wouldn’t want her mad at me.”

 Jack Harkness rolled his eyes as he headed into the en suite to strip and shower, Owen’s words still ringing in his head.  The worst part of it was, he was absolutely right.  No sane person wanted Natalie Tregarth angry with him (or her, come to that), and worse yet, he couldn’t put this down to anything other than engaging his mouth before his brain.  He hadn’t meant to hurt her, much less anger her, but he’d done both, and now he was trying to figure out the best way to put things to rights.  If it was Esther whom he’d hurt, it would have been much easier.  He learned that when he gave her a half-dozen pink camellias for taking care of him (admittedly, several months after the fact), that she loved flowers of any kind.  She was especially thrilled that he avoided the obvious.

 However, it wasn’t Esther whom he upset, it was Natalie … and, by extension, Ailsa.  Ailsa would be soothed once he had things with her mother worked out, and he had feeling that half-a-dozen flowers of any kind wouldn’t work.  Worse yet, he wasn’t even sure why he’d said it.  Natalie was quiet about what she believed, never treating him as anything less than a human being … albeit one who would live a very long time and had a hard time staying dead.  He wasn’t surprised that she was upset with him … what surprised him was that she didn’t haul off and slap him.  Maybe it shouldn’t have … she didn’t start hitting people until they put her child in danger, as a particular ex-teacher found out the hard way.

 None of which helped him now.  His main concern right now was how exactly he managed to make things right with a teammate, who was obviously avoiding him.  On the plus side, they were finished for the day at the former safe house, which would soon be a home for veterans, and everyone was assembled back at the house.  That would make it easier for him to physically approach Nat and apologize.  That didn’t mean it would be easy to smooth things over.  But it was generally easier to apologize to someone if they couldn’t avoid you.

 The opening and closing of the shower door alerted him that he was no longer alone, and a pair of small hands gliding down his ribcage told him who joined him.  Esther murmured, kissing the back of his neck, “She isn’t even angry with you, Jack.  Hurt, yes … but I think that the larger part of her right now is angry with herself.  She’s exhausted and frustrated … under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have reacted like that, no matter how little she appreciated your comment.”  Jack was on the verge of answering, but Esther’s fingertip began circling his navel, stroking the unmarked skin where he was shot, months earlier.  Oh.  Oh.  She always did that, always managed to find it, even without a scar.

 Esther kissed his shoulder, whispering against his skin, “Give her time to calm down.  I already heard her telling Ailsa to be nice to you.  Just give her time to calm down and remember that your comments have nothing to do with your respect for her, or rather lack thereof.  Her hands dropped considerably lower and … oh, she was getting _so_ good at this.  She held onto him as he slowly regained control of his limbs, kissing along his shoulder blades and down his spine.  And when he turned, lifting her into his arms, she welcomed him, fingers curling around the back of his neck, running her fingers through his wet hair.  He had her pinned against the wall of the shower, her legs wrapped around his waist, and at least one thing felt right.

 “Did I ever thank you for Liam?” he breathed against her neck, and felt her body tremble against his, a heady combination of desire and laughter.  She moved a certain way against him, and his knees came terribly close to turning to jelly.  He gasped, “ _Oh_.  Oh, I think we need to move this to a flat surface.  The floor … the bed … _oh_.”  Jack wasn’t entirely sure how they managed it, but a few minutes later, still dripping wet (he’d clean that up after a bit), they were on the bed.  And Owen was nowhere to be found … Jack’s mind stuttered to a stop when Esther’s teeth found a nipple, a new trick she just learned and was thoroughly enjoying.

 Once they were both capable of coherency, Esther sprawled across his body, she kissed the hollow of his throat, replying, “Did I ever tell you it wasn’t necessary to thank me?  ‘Cause I’m pretty sure that I said that at least once … maybe even four or five times.  Jack, I lo … I like you for whom you are.  We aren’t exclusive, I told you when this first started that I wasn’t looking for exclusivity … and unfortunately for me, you’re a tough act to follow.  And from what I’ve heard, you didn’t initiate that … he did.”  How did she know that?  Esther added, sliding to curl against his side, “Nat may have mentioned a particularly nasty nightmare she had, hearing noises from your room, and something she really didn’t want to see.”  Oh yes.  Jack almost forgot about that particular incident on the first day they were at the Colasanto compound.  Esther continued, her tone very serious, “Either way.  I’m glad your second trip to Nevada began and ended far better than your first one did.  I still crack up laughing when I think about what you did to that one Danes bodyguard.  He beats you up, and you kiss him.  That must have screwed with his mind something fierce.”

 “Don’t forget the part where he was actually employed by Angelo to prevent the Families from getting a hold of me,” Jack reminded her.  Esther grumbled under her breath, something to the effect of ‘ _that didn’t prevent him from hurting you_.’  Ianto was never happy about him dying, but Esther tended to take it personally when someone hurt him, even if he survived it.  Her attitude toward those who wanted to do him harm didn’t surprise Sophia … as she put it, ‘ _Esther spent two months taking care of you and nursing you back to health.  It stands to reason that someone who would undo all of that work would be someone she has little use for.  She’s already protective of you, simply because she cares for you.  Things like that make her even more protective_.’  Well … yes.  And then, Esther was touching him once more … which was a lot more fun to think about and respond to. 

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

 

“You know, I really wish she’d either snog him or shag him … whatever will work!”

 Sophia Tregarth bit back a smile at her middle daughter’s declaration … even though she more or less agreed with Octavia.  Like her two older daughters, Sophia came to realize that most of these blow-ups on the part of her youngest daughter resulted from her extremely intense, and ever-growing, attraction to one Captain Jack Harkness.  While she wouldn’t have been pleased with his comments about her church community, if she wasn’t so attracted to him, she wouldn’t have tore a strip out of his hide.  It seemed like things were more or less settled between them, after their return from Nevada, and after Octavia and Adriane made their trip to Scotland, but during the last few weeks, even before Jack upset her, Natalie was jittery.  She even admitted that she was jittery and restless, but didn’t know why.

 Priscilla snorted, drawing Sophia’s attention back to the daughters present, “You do realize this is our baby sister you’re talking about, don’t you, Tavia?  Natalie, who actively encouraged Esther to pursue Jack?  It doesn’t matter that Esther is genuinely okay with Jack being Jack, Natalie still feels as if she’s betraying Esther with the way she feels about him.  I just wish that she would confront him and get it over with.  Then again, that’s the way I raised her … calm down so you don’t end up hurting someone.”  There was exasperation and resignation in her first-born’s voice, but underneath it all was a very real concern.

 The three women were working in the kitchen after the daily visit to help in the renovation of the new home for veterans.  As expected, Jack was assisting with the work when he wasn’t on Rift-runs … what they hadn’t expected (but probably should have) was that Jack donated a significant amount of money to help with the renovation and hiring staff.  Carlyon refused to tell the rest of the family, but it was enough to rock him back on his heels.  Then again, in the lingo of the present, Sophia understood that Jack could be classified a multi-billionaire.  That was even before the revelation that Angelo Colasanto left his stock and assets to the immortal.

 Sophia still wasn’t sure what happened, but evidently, Jack made a comment when Natalie returned home from church that morning with Ailsa … and all hell broke loose.  Sophia knew Jack well enough to realize he was only teasing Natalie, but her youngest daughter was too furious to care … much less to allow Jack the chance to apologize or make amends.  And, like Octavia realized, a significant part of Natalie’s anger was the result of her attraction to their friend.  However, there was more to it than that, and Sophia was worried for her child. 

Priscilla said softly, “I may enlist Esther’s help tomorrow if Natalie is still shutting Jack out … maybe if we lock them in the bunkhouse, that’ll force Natalie to talk to Jack.”  Sophia gave her daughter a ‘ ** _no_** _, you will do no such thing_ ’ glower that, much to her surprise, worked even better now than when Priscilla was twelve and wanting to do something that was weapon grade stupidity.  Hmm.  She would have to think about employing that glower more often.  But later.  Much later.  The blonde said a bit weakly, “Well, it was just a thought.  I hate seeing Natalie in pain, and Jack hates being helpless.”

 “You are _not_ locking your sister anywhere, Priscilla Jeanne.  You know better than that.  Octavia Brigitte, stop laughing!  Now, if Natalie is still shutting Jack in the morning, after she’s had some sleep, then I’ll talk to her.  But there will be no more talk of locking her anywhere, even with Jack.  Understood?” Sophia asked, looking from one daughter to the other.  There was a part of her which was vaguely aware she was using what her younger granddaughter called her ‘mommy’ voice on Priscilla and Octavia, but that really didn’t matter.  She looked from one daughter to the other, making sure that her wishes would be respected.

 “Of course, Mama.  We just want to make things right between them, and Natalie won’t talk to Jack,” Octavia agreed, sounding more than a little plaintive.  Sophia arched her eyebrows as her daughter, who admitted, sounding somewhat sheepish, “All right, so I had plans with Rex for this weekend, and he’s threatening to cancel them if there’s still dissension in the ranks.  Oh, put a cork in it, Prissy!”  Sophia rolled her eyes.  Really?  Octavia was over fifty, with two grown sons, and she was behaving like an eight year old?

 Priscilla evidently agreed with her, saying, “You put a sock in it, Octavia!  For crying out loud, how old are you, five?  No, that’s an insult to Ailsa!  Now, I’m gonna put this in terms you’ll understand.  She’s our sister, but I raised her.  It isn’t just the most recent row with Jack that bothers me, it’s Natalie acting so out of character.  This wasn’t the first time Jack has said something like that, so why is she coming unglued the way she did?  What’s bothering her so much, aside from wanting a man she thinks she can’t have, that she’s trying to drive him away?”

 Bingo.  That was the money question, right there, and everything shifted for Sophia as she listened to her oldest daughter’s worries.  That was it, that was the root cause she was looking for.  Sophia murmured, “That’s it.  No, she’s not trying to push him away, but it’s something similar.  Things were settled when we got back from Nevada.  She was even fine after you and Dree got back from Scotland, Octavia.  But about six weeks after our return, that’s when Natalie started getting jumpy and restless and even a bit irritable.  She was like that when she woke up on our first day, and knew Jack was in danger.  So where’s the common link, aside from Jack?” 

 “Let me worry about that, Soph … once Natalie’s calmed down enough to talk, I’ll sort this out myself.  I’m field team leader, that’s part of my job,” Jack said calmly, entering the kitchen with Esther at his side.  He changed into his customary outfit and his hair was still wet from his shower.  Sophia, however, shook her head.  Yes, that was part of Jack’s task as the team leader, but her job as Natalie’s mother trumped that.  Natalie lashing out at Jack was just a symptom of a larger problem, and she meant to find out what that larger problem was.  She said as much to Jack, who replied, “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.  But you work on the situation in your way and I’ll work on it in mine.”

 “Stubborn,” Priscilla said in a stage-whisper to her younger sister, who nodded with a smug grin and added in an equally stagey-whisper, ‘ _and sexy_.’  Priscilla smirked at that, and Jack only grinned, looking a trifle smug himself.  Sophia rolled her eyes, exchanging a look with Esther.  The young blonde woman was only smiling at her lover, brown eyes warm with affection and something deeper.  Sophia hoped the girl hadn’t told Jack that she loved him, even though it was obviously true … she didn’t think Esther was ready to say the words, and she was quite certain that Jack wasn’t ready to hear them.

 “And a pain in the ass … is there anything you need me to do, Sophia, aside from getting Ailsa washed up?  I had a call on my cell from an old high school friend  … haven’t spoken to him for years, and I was hoping I could do that while Ailsa is taking her bath?” Natalie asked, breezing into the kitchen.  She smiled at Esther, rolled her eyes at her two sisters, and … simply behaved as if Jack wasn’t even there.  There was no sniff and unpleasant look, she breezed past as if she didn’t even see him there.  Sophia noticed Jack’s smile falter, and then a look of resignation appeared on his face.  She also saw the strain in her daughter’s eyes as she made a very gallant attempt at ignoring Jack.  Not an easy thing to do, under any circumstances.

“We’re fine … Quinn called you today?  I thought I heard you say something about him, sweetheart!” Priscilla exclaimed.  Natalie nodded, beaming, and Priscilla continued, “That’s wonderful … I know you were worried about him, after not hearing from him for so long.  No, we’re fine, go call him and let him know everything that’s been going on around here.”  Natalie offered her older sister another beaming smile, before bouncing out of the kitchen.  Priscilla said, still smiling, “Quinn was probably Natalie’s best friend in high school, ever since she stood up to some bullies to protect him, and then he returned the favor by beating the hell out of Ethan when he found out that sordid tale.  They lost touch about eight or nine years ago, so he doesn’t know about Ailsa.  Knowing Quinn, he’ll ask what took her so long to adopt.  He always thought she’d make a fantastic mother.”

 “I remember that … the day they met, Natalie came home with a black eye, but Dad was so proud of her for standing up to bullies,” Octavia reminisced with a small smile.  She continued, obviously aware of Sophia’s desire to hear anything about Natalie’s childhood, “She was … oh Lord, I imagine she was no more than thirteen.  No, she wasn’t in high school yet … but that’s how they met.  They were picking on Quinn, giving him a hard time, and here comes this tiny thirteen year old demanding that they leave him alone.  One of the bullies … there were three or four of them, I think … shoved her away.  Natalie shoved him right back, and he backhanded her across the face.  Quinn went absolutely bat-guano insane.  No one ever bothered either of them after that, and Quinn became her protector.  I’m glad he got in contact with her.”

 “Well, I’m very glad to hear that … I need to go to the bunkhouse and do some wash.  Coming, Jack?” Esther observed.  The required double-entendre was made and Esther rolled her eyes, grabbed one of his suspenders, and dragged him out of the kitchen.  But Sophia knew her friend far better, and she knew that he was scrambling to come up with the best way to mend bridges with Natalie.  The worst part of it was, she wasn’t even sure what that way was.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Something terrible was coming.  Ever since that night, months earlier when Tegan and Annis disappeared, Toni Weber developed a … well, at the risk of sounding totally clichéd, she developed something of a sixth sense when danger was in the air.  There was a night, about four or five months ago, when that instinct almost left her catatonic with sheer terror.  She found out a short time later that something happened and a man was beaten nearly to death at a bar.  Somehow, Nicky Halloran’s dad was involved … for days after the incident, Nicky looked pinched and worried.  He wouldn’t talk about it, but she could tell he was worried.

 She and Nicky grew closer over the last few months, and yes, if her mother pressed her, she would have admitted that she had something of a crush on him.  That was the spin her mother would have put on it, at least.  But the truth was, Toni was sure that she was falling in love with Nicky.  Unfortunately, she was also aware that he was in love with Adriane Tregarth, even if she barely knew he existed.  Her mother would have laughed and told her that she was too young to know what love was … but Toni knew how she felt about Nicky.

 The girl also knew that something was coming, the same kind of something that was coming when that poor man was hurt so badly, the same kind of something that resulted in the disappearance of Tegan and Annis.  The trouble was, she wasn’t entirely sure about what she should do about it.  Her first instinct was to call Nicky and let him know … but she was afraid of stirring up bad memories for him.  Talking to her parents was not an option, especially if she brought up the incident involving Tegan and Annis.

 Toni was fretting about this when an unfamiliar voice asked tentatively, “Jack?  Owen?  Is there someone there?”  The teen froze … why was there a woman speaking in an English accent in her room?  She turned in the direction of the voice, to find a very pretty woman looking around in shock.  That was one shock … the next shock came when Toni realized the pretty lady was transparent.  She kinda reminded Toni of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first three _Star Wars_ movies.  Or, in the second set of movies, when people communicated by way of the hologram-thingy.  The lady looked directly at Toni, asking, “Hello?” 

 “Uhm … hi?” Toni asked a bit weakly, because really, what else could be said in this case?  _Hi, how are you, are you a ghost, how did you die_?  Uhm, no.  Toni continued, forging ahead bravely, “I’m Toni … who are you?  Do you need help getting to the other side?”  She could have face-palmed.  _Really, Toni? **Really**?  Did you just ask a ghost if she needed help in getting to the other side_?  That was even worse than the things Toni told herself _not_ to say.

 The ghost lady looked amused, but to her credit, she didn’t laugh aloud.  Instead, she replied, “No, I believe I already _was_ on the other side, such as it is.  Something drew me back.  As to whom I’m looking for … first, I need to know where I am.  I’m guessing that I’m not in the United Kingdom, much less in Cardiff.”  Toni blinked.  Well, that stood to reason … the lady spoke with an English accent, so of course she would be from the UK.  The ghost added helpfully, “Cardiff is in Wales.”

 “Oh, I know that.  One of my neighbors used to live in Cardiff.  In fact, his two older daughters were born there.  You’re in Oklahoma now, in the Southwestern part of the United States,” Toni replied.  The woman’s eyes widened in shock, mouthing ‘ _Oklahoma?  I’m in Oklahoma_?’  The teenager continued, finally remembering her manners, “By the way, my name is ‘Antoinette Weber,’ but everyone calls me ‘Toni’ for short.  This is my bedroom.  I would shake your hand, but I’m not sure what would happen to me if I did that.”

 “I’m not sure, either, so let’s _not_ tempt fate.  I don’t want to run the risk of hurting you.  My name is ‘Toshiko,’ it’s a pleasure to meet you, Toni.  I … the chances are against you answering ‘yes,’ but I’ll ask it anyhow.  Do you know a Captain Jack Harkness?” the woman said.  Toni needed only a moment to run the name through her memory, and then nodded.  Toshiko exclaimed, “You do?”  Toni bobbed her head as she focused on the context.  That was something that Miss Ava told her once … context was everything.

 “Yeah, my friend Nicky … he’s friends with Captain Harkness, I mean, he and his family are friends with him.  I’ve never actually met him, but I do know of him.  He lives with the Tregarths … they are kinda my neighbors, too.  Hey, are you okay?” Toni asked as the woman actually looked like she was about to cry.  Toshiko managed a wobbly smile, and Toni continued, feeling more than a little worried, “And do you know what’s coming?  You’re a ghost, I’d figure that you would know better than I would what’s coming. I always know when something bad is going to happen, but I don’t know what that something bad is.”

 “I wish I knew.  The Tregarths … what can you tell me about them, Toni?  It could be very important.  The last I knew, Jack was in Cardiff, along with Ianto and Gwen,” Tosh requested.  Toni thought for a minute about whether she actually should, but reminded herself that Tosh had no physical form.  She bobbed her head in agreement, and Tosh continued, sounding more than relieved, “Thank you.  Thank you so much.  I don’t know why I was called back, but I have a feeling it has to do with this ‘ _something bad_ ’ you mentioned.”

 “Okay.  Uhm.  Well, Captain Harkness works with the Tregarth family.  They do something to protect the community … it’s Captain Harkness, Mr. and Mrs. Tregarth, their daughters Priscilla, Octavia and Natalie, Rex Matheson-he used to be a CIA agent-and Esther Drummond.  Oh, and there’s a new member … I think his name is Owen?  He’s younger than Captain Harkness, and shorter, too.  He’s dark-haired and has kind of a thin face.  And then there’s … hey, are you all right?” Toni asked anxiously, seeing the way the woman seemed to sway.  Was it possible for a ghost to faint?  She didn’t think so, since Toshiko didn’t have a physical body, but she’d never met a ghost before.  Maybe it _was_ possible for a ghost to faint.

 “Owen?  Owen is here?  How is that … _no_.  No, I need to focus.  Toni … hold up, how old are you?  And can you leave the house after dark?  Is it safe for you?” Toshiko asked.  Toni made a face, because her parents were still unwilling to let her leave the house while the sun was down, unless she was with them.  Toshiko added, “Never mind … I’ll figure something else out.  The most important thing is your safety.”

 “I’m fifteen.  And does it matter if it’s after dark or not?” Toni asked.  Toshiko thought about that for a minute, and then shook her head with a small smile.  Toni continued bravely, “Well, I can talk to Nicky at school tomorrow and see if he can’t get a meeting set up.”  Toshiko’s smile could have turned the night to day, and the youngster continued, “I’ll do that, then.  I know Nicky thinks an awful lot of Captain Harkness.  I asked him why once, and he said that he saved Nicky’s life … literally, that Nicky would have died if it weren’t for Captain Harkness.”  
  
Toshiko’s smile turned a bit sad as she murmured, “Jack has a habit of doing that … saving people.  He saved me, and if I know him, it took him a long time to forgive himself for being unable to save me a second time.  Toni, what year is it?  I know that’s a strange question to be asking, but …” Actually, Toni didn’t find it a strange question at all.  She wasn’t sure how long it took someone to become a ghost after they died, but it totally made sense to her that Toshiko was asking what year it was.

 “Sure, it’s 2012!   The beginning of April, actually … my dad is getting antsy with tax time coming up.  He always gets antsy when tax time comes around, though.  Oooh, are you all right?” she asked as, for the second time, Toshiko seemed to stagger.  Her new friend actually seemed pale and Toni looked around for a place for Toshiko to sit down, and then remembered that she couldn’t.  Toshiko was mouthing something that Toni couldn’t quite read, and the girl said without really thinking about it, “Pretend as if you’re sitting down, Toshiko!”  To her astonishment, not only did Toshiko take her advice … it actually worked, and the teenager breathed, “Whoa.  No … way!”

 “Four years.  It’s been four years.  What else can you tell me, Toni?  I know that you don’t … I know that you’ve never met Captain Harkness, but what can you tell me about what you’ve heard?  Is he all right?” Toshiko asked, looking a little calmer now that she was in a seated position.  Whether that was the actual reason … well, anything was possible.  Toni dumped herself into the chair at her computer desk and folded her legs up against her chest, resting her chin atop her knees.  The girl smiled when Toshiko copied her own pose, because it made her unexpected companion look no older than Toni herself.

 “Well, like I said, I’ve never met him.  But Nicky talks about him ever so often … says that something terrible happened to him, so terrible that his life in Wales is over.  I guess his best friend died, someone named ‘Ianto,’ and he lost someone else he loved,” Toni replied.  Toshiko closed her eyes, mouthing, ‘not Ianto,’ and Toni asked softly, “You knew Ianto, too?  He was your friend, too?”  Toshiko nodded sadly, and it appeared as though tears were slipping down her face.  Once more, Toni wished she could touch the woman, could comfort her somehow.  Instead, she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

 “Thank you.  He … I … what else can you tell me?” Toshiko asked, wiping at her face.  Toni wondered a bit if she should say anything more.  Her news obviously upset Toshiko, but the woman urged, “It’s all right, Toni.  We in T … we in our organization don’t tend to live long lives.  And that’s something all of us know.  It’s like being a police officer or a soldier.  The work we do is very dangerous, but I believe it’s worth it in the end.  No.  No, I *know* it’s worth in the end, because the Earth is still here.  What else can you tell me about Jack?  The Tregarths whom you mentioned, do they take good care of him?”

 “The Tregarths and Esther … she used to be in the CIA, too.  Nicky said that Captain Harkness was really sick during Miracle Day, and Esther took care of him then.  Oh.  Oh, you don’t know about Miracle Day, do you?  That was when nobody died … nobody at all,” Toni explained.  The woman’s eyes widened, and Toni continued, “It ended up lasting about two and a half months.  It was awful, Toshiko, just awful.  Nicky never really talks about how Captain Harkness was involved, but I can tell he’s angry.  It’s as if Captain Harkness could have died during Miracle Day, even though no one else was.  Do you want to hear more?”  This time, there was a furious glint in Toshiko’s eyes, but Toni _knew_ without question the anger wasn’t directed at her.  She nodded once, very quickly, and Toni began to explain what she knew … what little it was.

 

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Two and a half months where no one died.  The first thing that occurred to Toshiko Sato was that someone made a mockery out of Jack’s immortality.  The second thing that occurred to her was a terrible thought, and she was ashamed of it.  Next, she wondered how that was even possible … if it was possible, without all of the elements that turned him immortal in the first place.  And then, finally, she thought about how this so-called immortality among the rest of the world must have affected Jack.  The girl Toni’s words rang through her mind, how Nicky behaved as if Jack could have died during Miracle Day.  Was it possible that Jack was the only mortal man during Miracle Day?  For obvious reasons, Jack was never inclined to let Owen do much when it came to his immortality, and Tosh shuddered to think about the experimentation that was done when people learned of that immortality.

 Humanity, as a whole, was an incredibly curious species.  Humans wanted to know how and why things worked, from car engines to their own bodies.  That was why humans advanced … one reason at least … but there was a dark side to human curiosity.  Jack was the subject of that darker side, as Tosh learned.  She had only to think of his nightmares after he returned from his three months away.  There were times when it was only she and Jack in the main part of the Hub, and Jack was tormented with nightmares.  Tosh never spoke of those nightmares, of course.  Jack was hurting enough as it was at the time, even if he seemed more at peace with himself.  There were times when she braved climbing down into his bunker under his office to try to quiet his memories, and what she heard was enough to make her sick.  Whatever happened to Jack … it was more than three months for him, and it was no pleasure cruise.

 Tosh wasn’t Ianto, but she knew Jack loved her … maybe as a daughter, maybe as a little sister, but he loved her.  And so, when the nightmares became particularly bad, she would kneel beside him and stroke his temples and hair until he quieted.  During those times, Tosh swore that so long as she drew breath, no one would hurt Jack again.  Of course, she couldn’t keep her oath, especially not after Tommy had to return to 1918.  But she protected him however she could, and when Ianto told her about their proper date, lamenting at the end how Jack ruined his declaration that he came back for him by adding, ‘all of you,’ Tosh asked him tartly how he thought she would feel if Jack told her that he only came back for Ianto, as if Tosh didn’t count.  Ianto actually looked as if she slapped him.  Tosh nodded once and walked away, still furious.

 About twenty minutes later, Ianto came over with Tosh’s favorite blend … with all the toppings.  It was an apology, with the young man eyeing her nervously, an apology she accepted.  She could understand why he would get upset that he wasn’t the only reason Jack returned, but Tosh needed at least one other adult to talk to and Jack wasn’t always available.  Owen still acted as if she didn’t exist half the time, and Gwen … well, Gwen was Gwen.  And now, Gwen and Owen were the only ones left, aside from Jack.  Tosh wasn’t sure how that was possible, but the description Toni gave her fit the team doctor.

 And she would worry about that later.  Right now, her main concern was with the teenager who was providing her with this information, and her certainty that something bad was coming.  Tosh was fairly certain that she was right … why else would she have been brought back?  She remembered being shot, she remembered talking Owen through things on the other side, and of course, she remembered dying in Jack’s arms.  And, she had no way of knowing it, but her reaction when Toni told her about Miracle Day was almost the exact same as Owen’s … cold rage.  She had no idea who was behind this Miracle Day, but Tosh hoped with all of her being that the individuals responsible would spend eternity in agony.  She didn’t want to believe that she was a vindictive person, but given Toni’s report of those awful ten weeks, she was willing to make an exception for these monsters.

 Monster.  How many times did she or the others apply that term to Jack?  Every time he did something they didn’t approve of, and each time, they’d been wrong.  Oh, usually they attacked him for being a monster when emotions were running high and they regretted it, most of the time.   But the true monsters were the ones behind this Miracle Day … assuming it wasn’t an accident.  Maybe someone doing an experiment, trying to save someone they loved, and things got out of hand?  Tosh’s instincts, however, said otherwise.  Based on what Toni was saying, it seemed likely that it was very deliberate, and Tosh wondered what Jack did to put an end to it.

 At last, Toni was finished with her story, and watching Tosh warily.  The tech gave the teenager a gentle smile, trying to reassure her that everything was fine.  Nothing was fine, but the girl seemed nervous.  Maybe that was the problem … she seemed nervous, and not scared.  Why wasn’t she afraid?  Tosh began to scrutinize the girl, wishing for her equipment … because there was something about young Toni, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.  Tosh asked once the girl fell silent, “Toni … what happened to you?  There’s something recent that happened to you, isn’t there?”  The girl ducked her head, and Tosh added with infinite gentleness, “I’m not going to judge you, honey.  But there’s a reason I’m here, and there’s a reason you’re sensing that something’s about to happen, and I think those reasons are related.”

 The girl took a deep breath, and then released it, staring at Tosh.  At last, she said softly, “It was about seven months ago.”  Tosh listened as the girl told her about an initiation by two girls … Tosh was familiar with the type … and how those girls disappeared.  Oh.  She thought she could see where this was going.  Toni added once she finished telling about that horrifying night, “Strange things have been happening ever since.  Like, a few months ago, just after Thanksgiving, a teacher disappeared.  She was a kindergarten teacher, who kidnapped one of her students in broad daylight.  Ailsa is Mr. Tregarth’s granddaughter, and there are rumors about why her teacher did it.  The story I heard from Nicky was that the teacher was trying to force Natalie Tregarth, Ailsa’s mom, to turn against Captain Harkness.”

 Tosh’s blood ran cold … or would have, if she had a physical form.  That ran terribly, painfully true.  She had only to think of Abaddon and that devastating betrayal, as well as the three months that followed.  Toni went on, unaware of Tosh’s reaction, “Nicky said that Natalie wouldn’t do it, and when they caught up with the teacher, beat her up.  Oh, she waited until Ailsa was safe and with one of the others, but she did, she beat up that woman.  Nicky didn’t see it, but his mom and dad did, and said that she was like a demon.  Captain Harkness was the only one who could stop her, and he had to pick her up to do it.  Not everyone believes that, ‘cause Natalie’s real nice and real quiet.  Mom doesn’t believe it, but Dad does.  He says if anyone’s capable of opening up a giant-sized can of whoop-ass, it’s Natalie, ‘cause she is quiet.”

 Tosh reflected that Toni’s father was probably an extremely wise man.  However, she wasn’t sure if she would have the chance to meet anyone, much less Toni’s father, so she would reserve judgment on him and on the Tregarth family.  But … if Toni was right, and if Natalie managed to figure out a way to save her daughter without turning against Jack … then the entire family would be formidable allies, to say nothing of one helluva team.  Tosh hoped that Toni was right.  She hoped so much for that.  But there was something else that was troubling her, and it went back to Toni’s account of the night that Tegan and Annis disappeared. 

 As Toni fell silent, Tosh said gently, “Toni, thank you for telling me all this.  But I think I’m starting to figure out what happened.  When I was alive, I helped to guard a gateway.  I know it sounds like I’m making up stories, but I helped to guard a gateway between worlds.  We called it a Rift, and it sounds to me like you have a Rift here.  I think that’s what happened to Annis and Tegan, I think a Rift was opened and they fell through.  I don’t know why it happened, or how it happened, but you mentioned that strange things started occurring around the time they disappeared.”  Toni stared at her in horror.

 “You mean I did this?” the girl asked, horrified, and Tosh immediately shook her head.  No, that wasn’t possible.  The Rift didn’t work that way.  They weren’t entirely sure how the Rift worked and why it worked, but Tosh knew for a fact it was impossible for Toni to have opened the Rift.  However, the youngster wasn’t paying attention.  Toni continued, rising to her feet to pace in front of Tosh, “But what if I opened it?  I mean, I know these things, and I don’t know how I know them, so what if I opened it?”  Tosh again shook her head, wishing that she could take the girl’s hands to calm her down.  Not for the first time, she wondered why the girl’s parents hadn’t come to the room to investigate the voices they had to be hearing.  Later.  She would worry about that later.

 “No, Antoinette,” she said firmly, and the use of her full name got the girl’s attention.  Toni stopped pacing and stood in front of Tosh, who continued, “You didn’t open the Rift.  What may have happened … okay, you know how volcanoes release pressure within the Earth?”  Toni nodded a bit anxiously and Tosh went on, “The Rift is something like that.”  She stopped and shook her head.  That wasn’t one of the theories that she and Jack came up with while she was at Torchwood, so why would she think of it now?  It made no sense.  And right now, it didn’t matter.  She told Toni, “You didn’t open it.  Something happened that night, but I don’t think you caused it.  So, what we need to do now is focus on what’s coming through the Rift, to make sure it doesn’t hurt the people we love.”

 Toni needed only a minute to think about that, and then her eyes steeled with determination.  The spirit smiled at the girl, saying, “Good.  Do you have a pad of paper and a pen?”  Normally, she would have run tests with her tech and worked with her programs, but that wasn’t open to her at the moment.  She would use the options open to her and maybe if the gods were truly kind to her, she would have a chance to see Jack again … and see if the Owen whom Toni mentioned was her Owen, their Owen.

 

 TBC


	3. Unsettled Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Esther makes an offer; Suzie discovers yet another consequence of her actions; things come to a head between Jack and Natalie; things shake, rattle and roll; and Lucas gets a little more than he bargained for. Then again, he works for Jack … that comes with the territory.

“You know, if you want to go out and spend time with the horses, I can watch Ailsa,” Esther offered, poking her head into the bathroom as Natalie carefully combed her daughter’s wet hair.  Natalie raised her eyebrows questioningly, and Esther continued, “I left Jack in the new Hub … there was an anomaly earlier that drew Jason’s attention, and he was coming up to find Jack when we went into the bunkhouse to wash clothes.  That was exactly what we were doing, so get your mind out of the gutter, Natalie Sophia.”

 That earned her a small smile, as she replied, “And, this offer has nothing to do with me going off on Jack earlier?”  Esther shook her head, quietly entering the bathroom.  She sat down on the edge of the tub, reaching down to pick up one of Ailsa’s socks and slipping it onto the little girl’s foot.  Since Ailsa was inclined to kick her shoes off regardless of where she was, Natalie insisted that she at least wear socks.  Ailsa, perhaps mindful of her mother’s mood, squirmed only a little bit, and Esther winked at the child, which made her smile and she held as still as she could as the blonde put on the other sock.

 “No … not at all.  I know that you need some time before dinner starts, and I know that spending time with the horses calms you down.  Even if you don’t get to ride, it soothes you.  Visiting the firing range hasn’t helped … it’s gotten you even antsier, but the horses calm you down,” Esther observed.  She grinned a little, adding, “Even if your father’s comments about having no horses any more confused the hell out of me.”  That was a point of serious confusion, because she got two different stories about whether the Tregarths had horses or not.  That point of confusion was cleared up shortly after Adriane and Octavia returned from Scotland … not a moment too soon, either, as Rex nearly drove her crazy while Octavia was away.  Esther lost count of the number of times he ‘accidently’ walked in on her and Jack.  Of course, she threw something at him, while Jack teased him about joining in.

 The Tregarths had two stables … the stone building, which was brought from Virginia, and a more modern building that was further out on the property.  At the onset of Miracle Day, within the first week, Carlyon Tregarth realized there was something very wrong, and had the five horses which the family owned sent to a friend in Alberta where they could graze.  It took more time to get the horses back, since one horse died and another was born, and there were some legal issues to work out.  But they were back now, and Natalie spent as much time with those horses as she could arrange. 

 “And this isn’t an elaborate set-up to get me to talk to Jack?” Natalie questioned as she eased Ailsa from her lap.  Esther shook her head.  No.  No, she knew better than to attempt to manipulate Natalie that way.  She tried to manipulate someone exactly once, and to make matters worse, she tried to use her nieces … that went so badly, she promised herself she would never do it again.  No matter how good the cause seemed to be, she would not manipulate other people.  As she learned from Jack, people often had very good reasons for the stands they took.  It still haunted Esther, all of these months later, that maybe if she had just kept her mouth shut when Jack told her to let it go, he wouldn’t have been shot.  Jack swore to her that wasn’t the case, that she wasn’t responsible, but … every time she went over that in her head, that was the conclusion Esther reached.  There was nothing she could do about it now … but she would damn well make sure that she never did that again.

 “No.  I wouldn’t do that to you.  I learned my lesson the hard way, I don’t try to manipulate people.  I’m not good at it, and I end up hurting people who don’t deserve to be hurt.  Even if it seems like a good cause, I’m done trying to manipulate people.  But … but if Jack asks me where you are, I also won’t lie to him.  Not only am I absolutely lousy at lying, I won’t do that to him.  He deserves better than that from me, and so do you,” Esther replied.  Various emotions crossed Natalie’s face, before she nodded her agreement.  Ailsa crawled into Esther’s lap as the former analyst said softly, “You _do_ need to talk to him, Natalie.  For your sake, if not for his.  But I know you’ll do it when you’re good and ready … not when I want you to, not when your parents want you to.”

 “Thanks.  I don’t like this.  I don’t like feeling this way, I don’t like the way I reacted … but … I won’t tolerate certain things, and he crossed a line with me.  I have always treated him with respect … well, just about always, and the one time I didn’t, I was trying to make sure he was okay,” Natalie replied.  Esther bit back a smile at her friend’s neat avoidance of what was happening in the next room that worried her so much.  And making sure that a friend was okay didn’t qualify as disrespect, especially not with Jack being killed repeatedly only a few hours before.  Natalie continued, driving away Esther’s wish to smile, “I just don’t think it’s too much to ask that he reciprocates.”

 There.  That was the driving force behind her friend’s reactions.  While Esther wouldn’t say that the other woman was insecure, as such, things like reciprocity and quid pro quo were important to her.  So was knowing that someone she cared for and respected felt the same about her.  There was a similar flare-up back in October, not long before Sophia woke up … that very day, in fact, and it was over the same thing.  Natalie believed that Jack didn’t respect her.

 “And he does respect you, Natalie … he respects and cares for you a lot.  It’s like Mr. Colasanto said to your father, to you, even.  It isn’t that he doesn’t respect you, it’s that he doesn’t understand, he has no point of reference, and the points of reference he does have … well, they aren’t usually positive,” Esther told her friend.  There were times when it was hard to know how to take Jack.  Octavia’s comment was that most of what he said was half in fun and full in earnest.  Esther needed a moment to think about that, before accepting that yes, Octavia was quite right.  When Jack talked, it was half in fun and full in earnest.

 Natalie’s face stilled as Esther spoke, and the blonde woman realized that Natalie was ready to shut her out.  And so, she didn’t go any further, choosing instead to say, “You’ll work this out when you’re ready.  Just … don’t think he doesn’t care for you and doesn’t respect you.  That just isn’t true, and I won’t allow you to believe such a thing.”  With those words, Esther hefted Ailsa into her arms (good Lord, the child was growing like a weed), leaned down to kiss Natalie’s forehead, and left the bathroom.  She actually had some ideas about what she and Ailsa could do while the little girl’s mother was sorting out her thoughts … and most of them involved that Barbie Styling Head she’d gotten for Christmas.  Esther had one just like it when she was a little girl, and was looking forward to playing with Ailsa’s new one. 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

Colasanto Compound, Nevada

Same Day

 

 “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?????”

 Rassilon, Lord President of Gallifrey, looked up as he tinkered in his son’s caravan.  It took all of his self-control to keep his lips from twitching as his companion exploded into the cramped area.  Honestly, why the boy kept migrating toward these small areas, he’d never know.  Actually, he did know, and Rassilon’s smile died slowly.  He knew exactly why his youngest child gravitated toward small areas, and he wasn’t happy.  Oh, no.  He wasn’t happy at all.  Even so, he asked mildly, “What troubles you, Suzie?”

 “You … _you_ did this to me!  When you tied my life force to Natalie’s, that wasn’t all you did!  You linked our minds together, our emotions!  You did this, so you can undo it, too!” Suzie Costello shrieked at him.  Rassilon thought briefly about reminding her that he was sitting right there, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with his hearing, but Suzie was too overwrought to care about that right now.  Really, what did she _think_ happened when he tied her life force to Natalie Tregarth’s?  What, exactly, did she think that meant?  Suzie ranted, “It’s bad enough that I feel her emotions, see her dreams, but now I’m tainting her!  She’s doing and saying things that she doesn’t do or say, because I’m tainting her!”

 “Then you need to block it out,” Rassilon replied calmly.  She stared at him in shock, and Rassilon explained, “Yes, your life force is tied to hers.  Yes, there is bleed-through on both sides.  But you chose to use her dreams, you forged the bond … the responsibility to block your emotions from her, and her emotions from you, is yours to take.  What sorts of dreams are you having?”  Suzie responded with a glare that only made him smile.  Really?  That was supposed to impress him?  No, actually, it was supposed to intimidate him.  The trouble was, he wasn’t easy to intimidate, something his young companion should understand by now.

 “She dreams about Jack … about the day she almost betrayed him, finding him and Liam doing the horizontal mambo, about … oh, stop laughing!  You wouldn’t find it amusing if you saw what she wanted to do with your son!” Suzie snapped.  Rassilon nearly swallowed his tongue, because there were just some things about your children (or parents) that you really _didn’t_ want to know.  Unfortunately, since he’d already walked in on his son with Liam Grady (sort of), he found that out the hard way. 

 Besides, there was something she said earlier that intrigued him.  Rassilon asked, reclining in his chair, “You mentioned that she almost betrayed my son … when was this and what was the situation?”  While his posture was relaxed, he’d never been more alert.  This was something he didn’t hear about while the Tregarths were here in Nevada … although he did know who attacked his son.  For now, he was still playing the role of the gardener; otherwise, he would inflict severe pain on Liam Grady personally.  Suzie was trying to talk him out of harming the Colasanto lawyer, but Rassilon was still thinking about that. 

 “It was a few months ago.  Someone involved with an old enemy of Torchwood kidnapped Natalie’s daughter Ailsa, with the intention of forcing Natalie to betray Jack in order to retrieve Ailsa.  It didn’t work … Natalie stumbled across a way to warn Jack what was happening, and he sent the information along to the rest of Torchwood America,” Suzie explained.  Rassilon stapled his fingers together thoughtfully.  So.  It turned out that the most important part of Suzie’s narrative wasn’t that Natalie had nightmares about a different way that situation could have ended.  No, what interested him was the bit about the old enemy of Torchwood.

 “Were you familiar with this former enemy while you worked with my son?” he asked and Suzie shook her head immediately.  He had to give her credit.  When he told her that Jack was his son, she paled and swallowed hard, but didn’t hit the ground in a dead faint.  The same couldn’t be said of Olivia Colasanto, who actually did faint.  He still cherished the look of pure shock in her eyes when he told her what his name was, and why she would never heal, why she would always be in such pain … shock and horror.

 “No.  No, that was after I went off the rails.  But that does bring up a question for me,” Suzie observed.  Rassilon arched his brows at her questioningly, and the young woman asked, “You tied my life-force to that of Natalie’s … you also tied Olivia Colasanto’s life-force to that of Anwen Williams.  Will there be a similar channel between her and the baby?  I don’t care about her, but I do worry about Anwen.  She’s just an infant, after all, and she doesn’t deserve to be in pain.  I despise her mother, but Anwen doesn’t deserve my enmity.”

 “The bond is one-way in that case.  When I tied Olivia’s lifespan to Anwen, I ensured that Anwen would never experience Olivia’s sensations.  But Olivia will see things through Anwen’s eyes.  Your concern for the infant does you credit,” Rassilon answered gently.  He would be the first to admit how vindictive he could be.  But, as Suzie said, Anwen didn’t deserve to pay for things she didn’t do.  Suzie gave a small shrug, and Rassilon continued softly, “You’re still afraid that you’re still like your father.”

 “The thought had occurred to me.  I … she’s just a baby, Rassilon.  She’s so little and so … I can’t bear the thought of someone hurting her, the way my father hurt me.  All I could think of was some of that agony being channeled to Anwen, and she wouldn’t understand why she was hurting,” Suzie answered.  She blinked back tears, before wiping at them angrily, and Rassilon turned in his chair to take her hands.  Suzie whispered, “Do you know, I heard two of the maids talking about a girl they knew, a girl whose father hurt her the way mine hurt me?  And do you know what that girl did?  She made sure that things like that didn’t happen to other little girls, and that’s her revenge.  I … I was so stupid, Rassilon!”

 He said nothing, sensing that his young assistant had more that she needed to say.  He was right.  Suzie went on, “She got the better revenge, you know.  Out of the two of us, she got the better revenge.  I just killed my father.  But her?  She’s keeping those monsters away from as many little girls as she can.  She’s preventing nightmares for some little girls, and ending nightmares for others.  I just took revenge for myself.”  Rassilon rubbed her knuckles with his thumbs, wishing he had the words to calm her.  But this was a part of the process, as they were saying now.  She had to come to terms with what she did … everything she did.  She was seeing now what other options were open to her.  Suzie asked weakly, “I could have done that, too, couldn’t I?  I could have ended other little girls’ nightmares and kept working for Torchwood?”

 “You could have.  Jack would have helped you, under the table, but he would have helped you.  There’s nothing you can do about that now.  I can change certain things, but what your father did to you, and what you did while working on the Resurrection Gauntlet?  Those aren’t among them.  What you do now is most important.  You have received what very few ever get:  a third chance.  Do not squander it, Suzie Costello, because you will _not_ receive a fourth chance,” Rassilon answered quietly.

 “I don’t plan on it.  I have to ask, Lord Rassilon.  When you brought me back … did you clear my mind?  I look back at myself, and think of how I am now, and I’m not the same person.  The anger is still there, but it’s blunted somehow.  The anger, the contempt … all of it still exists, but it’s not as overwhelming as it was,” Suzie observed.  Rassilon motioned for her to sit down, which she did, her hands still cradled in his.  He looked down at their joined hands, and wondered how exactly he found himself the father figure of this woman. 

 “I didn’t clear your mind, as such.  The time you spent in what you call the ‘nothingness’ helped to dissipate a great deal of your anger.  I think you still need therapy … maybe even what’s called ‘anger management,’ but now, you have a chance to become what passes for normal,” Rassilon answered.  Suzie grinned around her tears, and Rassilon continued, “That part of your life that was Torchwood is over.  But you still have a chance to help and to protect others.”

 “Yes.  And … and part of that is protecting Natalie from my thoughts and my fears and my anger.  What … what do I need to build my shields?  Because I don’t want any of my darkness tainting her, and I would really rather not see what she’d like to do to Jack,” Suzie requested.  Rassilon shuddered.  Yes, he could imagine.  After the hours it took him to mentally scrub his mind free of what he saw with his son and Liam Grady.  And it would be child’s play to assist his new companion with her new shields.  

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW  

 

It was peaceful out here … the wind ruffling her hair, along with Iolaire, who tried to take a bite out of her hair for the third time running.  Natalie laughed a little, stroking the mare’s flank, and said, “Hey now, that’s not food.  It doesn’t taste very good, and I should know … I’ve gotten in my mouth enough times.  Now, this apple?  This tastes good.  Whoa!  I said the apple, not my hand!”  The mare whinnied at her, and Natalie could have sworn there was a touch of mischief in the sound.  Really, it wouldn’t surprise her if Iolaire was being playful.

 Like most of the horses owned by Natalie’s father, Iolaire was a rescue animal.  When she came to the Tregarths five years earlier, she was dangerously underfed.  Now, she was a magnificent animal whom Ailsa adored because she was so beautiful and because she came to the family at the same time as the little girl.  Natalie’s father called her ‘Iolaire,’ because she reminded him of an eagle streaking low across the ground, and ‘Iolaire’ was Scottish Gaelic for ‘eagle.’  She smiled to herself, remembering how she struggled with the pronunciation at first.  It didn’t help that she saw the name before she heard it pronounced and tried to pronounce it as ‘ _eye-oh-lair_.’  Her father gently corrected her, telling her that it was pronounced as ‘ _yoo-luh-ruh_.’ 

 It was in Iolaire’s favorite grazing spot that the first bonds with her mother really began to take hold.  It seemed that Sophia was quite the equestrienne during what she termed her first life … the first thirty-six years of her life, before she fell ill.  Iolaire picked up on it, for she was even more affectionate toward Sophia than she was toward Natalie and Ailsa.  For some odd reason, the mother and daughter found themselves discussing Gaelic names … maybe not so odd, it was right after Nat told her mother what the mare’s name was.  Natalie lamented her difficulty in pronouncing Gaelic names, and Sophia launched into a hilarious account of her own misadventures in pronouncing Welsh names during her early years in Cardiff.  It was even mortifying to Sophia, since she was a diplomat’s daughter.

 In turn, Natalie told her about her own adventures with British English, including the times when her father deliberately allowed miscommunications with Jack, because of the difference in word usage.  Her mother laughed aloud, light brown eyes merry.  Natalie cursed herself, because remembering that day brought her right back to what she didn’t want to think about:  namely, Jack.  Not just Jack, though, or the way she felt about him … but her very real terror that she was losing her mind.

 It began almost as soon as they left Nevada.  At first, Natalie thought she was suffering an early onset of tinnitus.  It wasn’t really a ringing in her ears, just a … a weird sensation.  It was so hard for her to explain.  Soon, that sensation grew to include her balance.  She caught herself swaying a few times and taking a step and falling on her face.  Her muscles also started to ache for no reason … it felt as though she was using those muscles more often (even though she really wasn’t).  By the time Jack started in this morning (saying nothing more than what he’d say in the past), Natalie could feel the last of her nerves fraying.

 None of which excused her own behavior, naturally.  There was no point in lashing out at Jack for being Jack:  it made about as much sense as lashing out at Octavia for teasing her, or at Rex or Owen for their arguments, or at either of her nephews for leaving the toilet seat up (although, Lucas was trying harder, starting with when Sophia woke up).  It was just stupid.  It was made worse by the fact that Ailsa got upset with Jack for hurting her.  She knew it was stupid, she knew it was pointless, and yet …

  _And yet, and yet, and yet_.  Natalie could acknowledge all of this within her own heart, while she was alone.  But if she saw Jack, or if Esther gently brought it up, Natalie’s defenses went up immediately.  Underscoring that very fact, a quiet voice from behind her observed, “You know, I’ve been hearing for ages that you’re a pretty decent horsewoman, but this is the first time I’ve even seen you with the horses.  Usually, when you want to clear your head, we can find you on the shooting range.”  Jack.  Natalie froze, nearly getting knocked over when her hand stilled on Iolaire’s flank and the horse swung her head toward that side.

 “I hate to think that I’ve become predictable after so short a time,” she replied after a moment.  There was a low laugh behind her, a laugh that threatened to turn her legs to water, and Natalie continued, “Her name is ‘Iolaire,’ and she’s a rescue horse, like all of our horses.  When she was adopted, I mentioned that she was terribly malnourished.  And the people you maligned this morning were here for the next five days, bringing whatever they could to help.  There was one lady, who only a week earlier gave me a baby blanket for Ailsa, and she gave me an armful of blankets to keep Iolaire warm, because her coat was in such terrible shape.”

 The oh-so-familiar scent (to say nothing of the shadow at her back) informed her that Jack stepped to her side, and she continued, “I get why you feel the way you do.  I do understand.  I’m sorry that it happened, and I’m sorry that you were hurt, but how would you feel if a woman who was treated badly by a British person decided that everyone from the UK behaved like that … and treated you accordingly.  I don’t ask that you share my beliefs, Jack.  I have too much respect for you.  All I’m asking for is the same courtesy.  I didn’t think it was asking so much.”

 “You aren’t.  I’m sorry.  You know I get that way sometimes, that I don’t take the same things as you seriously.  But there was truly no disrespect meant, to you or to your community.  I come from a time when organized religion is largely a thing of the past,” Jack replied softly.  He wasn’t touching her yet, and Natalie was grateful for that.  She knew that as soon he touched her, she would cave and collapse into his arms, begging his forgiveness.  Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was aware that she was thinking the exact opposite only moments earlier, and she wasn’t sure what the hell just happened to her.

 “I suppose that’s part of why I feel sorry for you.  You’ve only ever seen the dark side … you’ve never seen us when we’re taking care of each other.  I … **oh**!” Natalie gasped, her legs suddenly going weak.  She hadn’t even dropped to her knees when a pair of strong arms encircled her waist, holding her tightly against a warm chest.  Slowly, oh so slowly, she was gently lowered to the ground and for the first time since their return from Nevada, that strange sensation was gone.  It was just … there and not there.  She gasped for breath, burying her face against Jack’s shoulder and holding onto him tightly.  He held her just as tightly.

 Finally, he whispered, “Are you all right?”  She nodded, not moving aside from that motion, and Jack continued, voice still very soft, “I’m gonna get us both up from this grass, because I think that horse of yours is trying to eat my hair.”  Natalie actually giggled at that, rasping out that, ‘ _Iolaire likes to eat hair_.’  She could feel as well as hear his laughter, and he observed, “I noticed.  C’mon, up we go, pretty lady.”  Still clinging to Jack’s waist with both arms, Natalie was able to get both legs under her as he helped her to her feet.  Once they were both standing, he asked once again, “Are you all right?”

 “Better now.  Oh, God … Jack, I’m so sorry.  I know how you feel about apologies, and you’re right, but I’m _so_ sorry!  I can’t believe I said those things to you, and I know … mmmph!” Natalie began to ramble, but she was cut off rather abruptly by Jack’s hand covering her mouth.  She hadn’t even realized he released her partially … although, it may have been more accurate to say that she wasn’t paying attention … and the gesture forced her to look up into his eyes.  There was concern and compassion and amusement, and once Jack was satisfied she wouldn’t start rambling again, he removed his hand.

 “Apology accepted, if you accept mine.  We were both at fault, we both hurt each other, so we both apologize, and we both fix it.  Do you know what happened?  The last time I saw someone acting like that, they were given a pendant that allowed them to hear what other people were thinking … and I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened to you,” Jack observed.  Natalie shook her head vehemently.  And the idea of being able to hear what someone else was thinking just creeped her out.  But at the same time, there was something … almost as if … She frowned, trying to pin down exactly what Jack’s words reminded her of.

 “It started right after we came home from Nevada.  It started with this buzzing in my head, and I thought at first that it was tinnitus, but it got bigger … and weirder.  I felt almost as if I was a stranger in my own body.  And for some reason, that sensation got stronger when I was around you.  It happened again, just now … right before you approached.  And then, suddenly, it wasn’t there anymore.  It was like there was a light switch was flipped in my mind, and my body, my mind, was my own again.  I could think clearly and half of the stress and anger and frustration I was feeling just went away.  Yeah.  Yeah, it was like I was one person in two bodies, or two people in one body, and I just didn’t feel right.  Do you think the Rift sent something through?” Natalie asked, leaning against Jack quite comfortably.  With that strange sensation gone, it was also easier to box up her intense and ever-growing attraction to him in that little compartment in her mind.  It wasn’t something that Natalie understood, even when she was in her right mind, but that was just how things worked for her.

 “I don’t know, and that’s the part that worries me.  C’mon, let’s finish feeding your ground eagle there, and then we’ll head back to the house.  I think it’s getting pretty close to dinner, and if we don’t rescue Esther, Ailsa might decide to start putting make-up on her,” Jack said dryly.  Natalie threw her head back and laughed, because her Aili would definitely do that if she got bored with her new toy.  She and Jack looked at each other a bit ruefully … and then, the earth literally moved.  As in, literally, as in an earthquake, and the tremors sent them both to the ground.

 And, as luck would have it, she ended up lying under Jack.  And once she realized this, it took everything she had not to reach down and feel him up.  Jack breathed, his breath warm against her skin, “Okay, that was weird … Iolaire doesn’t look especially happy, either.  C’mon, let’s get back to the house.  I want to see if that was natural, or if it was caused by something coming through the Rift.”  Natalie’s blood ran cold, but she accepted Jack’s hand, calmed the clearly-nervous horse with several strokes of her hand, before running to catch up with Jack.  There really never was another dull moment around here! 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

Lucas Martinelli was having one of ‘those’ days.  You know, those days when he wasn’t entirely sure if he was coming or going, or if it even mattered?  Yeah.  One of those days.  He started off the day with Gaetano, who was currently staying with the Havelocks.  It was a win-win situation:  Charles Havelock spoke Italian and was able to help the little boy with unfamiliar English words, and the family was aware of the Rift and what it could do.  Upon returning to the house, Lucas walked into a mess.

 Forget breakfast.  The young man raced lightly up the stairs, away from the argument and the fall-out, because he just didn’t want to deal with it.  Owen was in the new Hub (could they please figure out something else to call that, because it wasn’t a Hub, it wasn’t a transportation center, it wasn’t a center of any kind?), looking over the latest medical journals.  Jason was still asleep, so Lucas went into their computer room.  There were two computer rooms in the Tregarth household.  The downstairs computer room, whether their mother and Esther worked, and the upstairs computer room, where the boys had the Rift monitoring programs set up.

 It was here that he took refuge from the drama, making sure that everything was working the way it should.  So, of course, when the ‘earthquake’ hit and the Rift equipment went off the charts, he was in the bathroom.  Lucas swore under his breath in English, Italian, and any other language he could think of, finished up his business, and then darted back into the computer room.  And if having the seat up annoyed his youngest aunt … hey, that was fine too.  He was narrowing down the most likely causes when the door all but flew off its hinges and Jack asked a bit breathlessly (honestly, Lucas didn’t think the man did breathless, unless it was between the sheets, and ew, he needed brain bleach), “What have you got?”

 That wasn’t the surprise.  As Lucas raised his head to address his team leader, he discovered his aunt Natalie standing at Jack’s side.   Okay.  Evidently, they worked out whatever bee got into Natalie’s bonnet this time.  Lucas chose not to comment on this, instead replying, “The equipment’s going haywire, Jack … I’ve been trying to narrow down the exact location and an exact cause, but I can only give you a general region.  I … oh, crap!  It’s the location where those two girls disappeared when the Rift first opened.”

 “Okay, what does that mean, exactly?  I understand what you’re saying, Lucas, but what does that mean in terms of what’s coming through, if anything at all is coming through?  Is this something big?  How exactly does it work?” Natalie asked.  Lucas stopped what he was doing and looked, really looked, at his aunt.  She was staring at him with a thoughtful expression, and Lucas actually thought about what she just asked.  _What does this mean?  How is the size of the object coming through related to how the instruments reacted_?

 “Generally speaking, we could tell whether something that came through was large or small.  Sometimes it was the size of a mobile … other times, it was a space ship.  This, though … Lucas, right before the equipment went insane, there was an earthquake, right?  Did you check the USGS website, to see if any quakes were reported?  Not by people who felt it, but by instruments?” Jack inquired.  Lucas swore under his breath and Jack pointed out mildly, “There are ladies present.”  Natalie laughed outright.

 “I’m his aunt, Jack, not a lady,” she pointed with an impish twinkle in her eyes.  Lucas looked up in time to see the two exchange a grin and shuddered.  Okay, he really didn’t know what happened between those two in the last few hours and he didn’t want to know either.   It was bad enough, seeing his aunt look at Jack the same way Esther did (or the same way Lucas’ own mother looked at Rex Matheson) … but ew.  He desperately needed some brain bleach.  Natalie continued, growing serious, “That’s an interesting idea, Jack, about the USGS.”

 “Well, in Cardiff, we had access to certain things that we don’t have here in Oklahoma, because we’re not in the city … so, we use what we have at hand.  And one thing that I’ve learned about your family, is that the Tregarths are a very resourceful lot.  Lucas, are you finding anything?” Jack asked and Lucas pulled up the website in question.  A few taps of his keys had him whistling and Jack observed, “I’m gonna take that as a ‘yes.’  What are you seeing, Luc?”  It wasn’t the first time Jack shortened his name like that, but Lucas found that he liked it.  Jack was the first person since his father who called him that, and he _really_ liked it.

 “Okay, I’d need to look at the statistics, but generally speaking, the earthquakes we get in Oklahoma are around two or three magnitude, sometimes as much as four.  That’s not the size of the quake that just hit … that baby was a helluva lot bigger.  Not sure what the exact magnitude is, but it was big.  While I’m waiting for that, I’ve been triangulating the latitude and longitude provided with the measurements we have for the Rift, as of now … but it’s looking as if it’s the same general area.  Jack, what are the chances that this quake will open up the Rift further?” Lucas asked.  That was what worried him ever since he felt the quake … that and whether anyone was injured.

 “Good question.  Nat, you’re field qualified now … care to accompany me to do some surveying?  Or, do you think that Ailsa will need you here?” Jack asked, glancing at Natalie.  His wrist-computer beeped and he added, “Belay that.  C’mon, we have company downstairs.  Lucas, let the system work, it’ll let me know when you have something.”  It would?  Oh.  Yeah.  It would.  Lucas pushed his chair back a bit reluctantly, and Jack continued, “I have a feeling we’re about to get answers to questions we didn’t know we had … oh, and Natalie?  Don’t think I didn’t notice what you _didn’t_ do while we were out there.”

 Natalie turned fire-engine red, but smiled anyhow.  Lucas shook his head as he followed his team leader and aunt from the room.  He didn’t want to know.  He really didn’t want to know.  Maybe after this impromptu family meeting was over, and Jack had the answers he needed, Lucas would go down to the med bay and see if Owen needed anything.  Lucas still had yet to update Owen on Gaetano’s condition.  Yeah.  Yeah, that was a good idea.  It would be nice to spend time with a normal person … assuming that Owen wasn’t spending time with Adriane. 

 

 TBC


	4. Pieces Falling into Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen finds an escape from the domestics; Jack and Natalie put some things to rest between them during their walk back to the house; while Tosh and Toni try to work out what’s happening.

There were times when Owen Harper was _so_ relieved that he was still building his med-bay from the ground up … it prevented him from getting in the middle of domestics.  That was the only drawback to living with the Tregarths … the domestics.  Still, Owen knew it could have been worse.  He could have returned when Sophia Tregarth awakened.  That would have been much, much worse, given what he heard from Adriane Tregarth.  It was bad enough, that he returned the day after Jack learned the whole truth about 1965.  There were times when Owen wondered why his boss forgave so easily and so completely.

 On the other hand, Owen himself benefited from that same forgiveness … besides, it really wasn’t any of his business.  That didn’t stop him from taking refuge in the new Hub … or in the old cellar/basement/whatever you wanted to call it … whenever a Tregarth domestic threatened to spill over into Torchwood business.  Sometimes it was Octavia and Priscilla bickering because of the former’s relationship with Rex Matheson; sometimes, it was Matheson and Octavia arguing about her late husband (which Owen thought was idiotic … considering it was Jack who was actually in danger, thanks to Octavia’s erstwhile brother-in-law, and Jack didn’t let it upset him, Owen didn’t see what Matheson’s issue was).  On occasion, it was Adriane and her two cousins.  On very rare occasions, Natalie was the one causing a domestic … and usually, when she was at the center of it, things got really crazy.  

 That was the case this time, and fortunately, Owen was down in his med-bay for most of it.  The previous week, a new shipment of medicines arrived and Owen promised himself that he would come down and sort it all out.  Which he did … at six this morning, before anyone else was up.  His med-bay wasn’t like the one in the Hub.  According to Carlyon Tregarth, it was a small hospital in and of itself, with four beds and one operating theater.  Owen also had his own office, just off the operating theatre, where he put the file cabinets, computer and printer.  Natalie made sure he had as many flash drives as he needed … she loved the damn things, for some reason.

 What was once the temporary morgue was now empty … Tosh’s body was moved to the cold storage building on the Colasanto compound shortly after Octavia and Adriane returned from Scotland.  Owen and Jack personally supervised the entire process … from the moment Tosh’s coffin was removed from the Hub until it was carried reverently into the cold storage building.  Jack was unusually quiet through the entire time … on the plane which carried them back to Nevada, through the truck ride to the cold storage building, and even when they retreated to the manor itself to rest for the night.

 Jack had another nightmare about being buried alive by his brother and Tosh dying in his arms, and as he did when his captain had a nightmare (or when he did), Owen crawled into bed and pulled Jack into his arms to wake him up.  They held onto each other until they both fell back asleep, speaking of the beautiful woman they both loved and sharing memories of her.  Owen had to remind himself multiple times that it was only her body which they were leaving behind, not Tosh herself, but it was hard.  It was hard for them both.

 When they returned to Oklahoma, it was to the news that Martha’s baby was born … a baby Nightingale, as Jack said.  They still hadn’t named her (even in April), but were calling her ‘Gale’ until they came up with a good name for her.  It was short for ‘Nightingale,’ of course, and Mickey groused about letting Jack name his daughter, no matter how temporarily.  Martha e-mailed Jack with a picture of the tiny piece of humanity swathed in pink, and it seemed that eased some of the hurt.  She added, a bit apologetically, that she suggested naming the baby ‘Toshiko,’ but Mickey had unpleasant memories of another girl named ‘Toshiko’ in his previous universe.  Not the Toshiko Sato in the parallel world, but another girl of that name, and Mickey had no interest in honoring her in such a way.  Jack understood, and so did Owen. 

 Ailsa, showing that streak of compassion that children sometimes did (one that went hand-in-hand with their occasional cruelty), declared that her Barbie would be named ‘Tosh.’  According to Natalie when she told them about it later, she didn’t really understand why the name was important … just that ‘Tosh’ was their friend who died, and it made them sad.  Ailsa didn’t like it when they were sad, so she decided to do something that would make them happy … and naming her Barbie doll ‘Tosh’ would make them smile, if not actually happy.  That was good enough for Ailsa.

 Okay, so there were _some_ good things about living with a family … Ailsa was at the top of the list, along with her constant companion Mij.  The only times when Mij wasn’t with Ailsa was when the little corgi decided to hide under Esther’s bed … and that usually happened after Ailsa decided to braid her dog’s fur or paint her nails.  There were also the nights when he and the Martinelli boys went to the bar in town (not the one where he found Jack.  Owen had no desire to ever go back there).  That started after Jason and Lucas walked into the stables, which their mother chose as her love nest with Matheson … and the boys saw a helluva lot more than they ever wanted to see.  Owen talked the boys into taking him to a good bar … alcohol was really good brain bleach.  Oh, they knew that their mother and Matheson were together … but knowing that and seeing that in person?  Uhm, no thanks.  Owen thought (briefly) about using that to harass Matheson the next time the CIA agent decided to be an absolute pillock, but decided that Octavia didn’t deserve to get caught in the crossfire.

 Yeah, there were good things about living with a family, and those good things outweighed the awkwardness of the domestics he had to deal with on occasion.  The boys still weren’t done with the storage room, and so Owen remained in Jack’s room.  Most nights, Owen just slept on the floor beside Jack … unless one of them had a nightmare.  And the last time they did anything more than sleep in each other’s arms was a few months earlier.  Little by little, Owen was building a relationship with Adriane, even though neither of them would call them that.

 Adriane was wary of relationships, given the issues her mother had and Owen … well, he would never admit it to anyone but Jack, but Owen almost wanted Tosh’s blessing.  He said so while still trembling from a terrifying dream about one of his more dangerous foes in the alternate world.  He felt Jack’s lips against the top of his head, the captain’s fingers stroking down his spine, before admitting that he knew better than Owen thought what he meant.  Somehow, that didn’t surprise Owen as much as maybe it should have.  He didn’t say anything, though … just chose to hold Jack tightly, curling against him as if seeking an older brother’s protection, or maybe seeking to protect a wounded brother.

 The sound of feet on the rungs of the ladder distracted Owen from his thoughts, and he rose from his computer to peek into the main part of the Hub.  A somewhat disgruntled Lucas dropped the last foot or so, muttering under his breath about his youngest aunt and her crazy-ass moods.  His expression lightened only a little when he saw Owen, telling the slightly older man, “Nicky Halloran is upstairs in the main house … says he has some information.  Jack and Grandfather want everyone in the downstairs computer room, post haste.”  Owen nodded and followed his young assistant back up the ladder, away from his thoughts and memories. 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

During the walk back to the house, Natalie still leaning against him for support, Jack was thinking about the most recent flare-up and he realized something:  they never settled the first flare-up, in those days surrounding Sophia’s return to the land of the living.  He said as much to her, adding gently when she stiffened, “We both had a lot to deal with during those weeks.  But it seems to me that we have unfinished business, and now is as good a time as any to conclude that business.  I don’t want this to continue haunting us both, Natalie, and you know that as well as I do.  I don’t mind you standing up to me … in fact, it’s kind of fun and kind of hot when you tell me that I’m wrong about something, and then you prove it.  But … this idea that keeps circulating in your brain that I don’t respect you … I can’t figure out where you got that.”

 Natalie’s grip on his arm intensified, but she thought about it for several moments before saying, “I wish I knew where it came from this time.  The last time, just before Sophia woke up, it was because it seemed you thought that I was homophobic, and that angered me.”  Jack nodded.  That wasn’t what he was thinking at all, but looking at it from her perspective, he saw why she would come to that (faulty) conclusion.

 “In case you need me to say it, I don’t think that at all.  I was only teasing you because a number of women I’ve encountered seem to enjoy watching men kiss,” Jack told her.  Natalie blushed and ducked her head.  He hugged her against his side, saying, “We’ve got that cleared up, then.  Next item.  Why _did_ you leave when I kissed Ianto … when he kissed me … when we kissed?  You know now that I don’t think you’re homophobic, so why did you leave?”  Natalie’s face turned even redder, and she shook her head.  Jack said seriously, trying not to think of a blast door separating him from someone he loved and that person not taking ‘no’ for an answer, “Natalie … why did you leave?”

 “Because I’m not comfortable watching anyone kiss … whether it’s a man and a woman, two men, or two women.  I’m just not comfortable with it,” Natalie finally replied.  Uhm …. Right.  He looked down at her with a small smile that demonstrated his disbelief.  Oh, he didn’t doubt that was part of the reason, but that wasn’t the only reason, and he knew that.  He knew she was an incredibly private person when it came to personal displays of affection … and that only got worse after she walked in on him and Liam.  But there was far more to it than that, and he wouldn’t let her run from this anymore.  He said on more than one occasion that this wasn’t Cardiff … maybe it was time he stopped trying to do the things he’d done in Cardiff, as well.

 “Oh, I know you don’t enjoy watching people kiss, Natalie.  But you’ve forgotten one thing,” Jack pointed out.  She raised her eyebrows and he told her, “Usually, if you don’t want to see something, you turn your head.  You don’t leave the room, you don’t leave the area.  But on that day, you left the area.  You could have gently turned Ailsa’s head away, if that was the issue.  But you didn’t.  So I ask again.  Why did you leave when we kissed?”  She glowered at him, but Jack was unmoved.  He saw far worse expressions from far scarier people.  He said gently, “Natalie, there are very few things that you can say that would shock me.  I’ve been alive a very long time, I’ve seen things that you would never believe.  You can’t shock me.  And the only way you can truly hurt me is by either hurting someone I love … which you wouldn’t do … or by shutting me out, which is what you’ve been doing.”

 Natalie actually blanched, nearly reeling away from him.  Jack stopped, placed both hands on her shoulders, and stared down into her dark eyes, whispering, “Tell me, Nat.  Because pushing things into a little box in the back of your head isn’t helping … it’s hurting.  It’s hurting you, and while I don’t care about you lashing out at me-I’m used to it-I won’t let you hurt yourself.  Tell me, Nat.  Tell me.  Tell me.  Tell me.”  Each ‘ _tell me_ ’ was punctuated with a kiss to her cheek or hairline or forehead.  Natalie shook her head, eyes filling with tears, and Jack moved his hands from her shoulders to her face, saying again, “Tell me, Nat.  I promise, I won’t be angry with you, sweetheart.  But I won’t let you use me to hurt yourself, either.  Tell me.”

 Her lips moved, but no sound emerged, and Jack stroked his thumbs over her cheekbones lightly.  Natalie whispered, “Because I wanted it to be me, and oh God, it hurts so much because it never can be.  I wanted it to me that you were kissing, and I don’t deserve you, and Esther doesn’t deserve me betraying her like that.  I wanted it to be me, so much, and that hasn’t gone away.  I don’t understand, Jack … always before, it went away when I pushed it away long enough, but it hasn’t gone away.”  She sounded lost and broken, and Jack’s heart broke just a little for her. 

 And now that the floodgates were open, the words tumbling from her lips in a flood, “Most of the time, I can put it away in a little box, so I can function.  The worst part is the anger … most of the time, I know that I’m truly angry with myself.  But sometimes …”  She trailed off, her eyes drifting away from his face, and Jack understood.  He may not have understood her starting place, but he did understand rage directed at one’s self and self-loathing.  He had a lot of experience with the latter.  He drew the trembling brunette into his arms, and tried to find the words that would help her.  Natalie nestled in his arms, murmuring, “I could stay here forever.  I feel so safe with you, and that scares me so badly.  But it’s true.  When you hold me, it feels as if nothing can touch me.”

 “Unfortunately, that isn’t true,” Jack murmured into her hair, and was rewarded with a small giggle.  He kissed the top of her head, whispering, “I don’t know what to tell you, Natalie.  Only this:  there was a time when I could have ended the world with my stupidity.  It doesn’t matter what I did … that’s not the important thing.  The important thing is what I did after.  I atoned as best as I could, and tried to live up to the faith that the man who saved me, and the world, placed in me.  You say that you don’t deserve me … but you don’t deserve the self-loathing I hear in your voice, either.  So, you have to figure out how you’re going to deal with that.  I can’t tell you how to do what you need to do.  I just want you to understand … you don’t deserve to be in such pain.  You don’t deserve to drive away someone dear to you.  And Ailsa doesn’t deserve what will happen if you hollow yourself out that way.  Your daughter deserves more than that.  I may not have a lot of credibility as a parent, but I can say that, without hesitation.”

 Her lips worked for a moment, before she whispered, “I’m sorry.  I know I already said that, but I’m sorry for being a brat, and for jumping to the wrong conclusions.  All my life, I’ve tried so hard to take care of the people around me, but it seems as if I keep hurting you.”  Jack tightened his arms around her, and felt her arms slip around his waist in turn.  He didn’t like hearing ‘sorry,’ because it seemed that was an automatic ‘ _get out of jail_ ’ card.  Say you’re sorry, and everything is fine.

 “I know you are,” he answered at last, “so my question is, you’ve said that you’re sorry, and I know you are, but what are you going to do next?”  Natalie went still in his arms, and Jack made no more comments, allowing the words to ping around in her brain for several moments.  She was the only one who could answer that question, and he needed her to think about what her next step was.  Jack didn’t fool himself into thinking that this would be the end of it … but maybe now, things could start moving, rather than being stalled.

 “I gotta apologize to the rest of the family.  I didn’t mean to, but I ended up dragging them all into this.  Especially Ailsa,” she said at last, something that surprised Jack.  However, he couldn’t argue with her reasoning.  She sighed after a moment, “And I need to tell them what’s been going on inside of my head for the last few weeks.  It’s so strange, Jack … at the time it happened, I knew exactly why I reacted as I did, but with a clear head, I can’t imagine what I was thinking.  Aside from the possibility that I wasn’t thinking at all.  I know you were only teasing me, so I can’t figure out what was going on inside my head.  Do you think something came through the Rift?  I don’t remember anything that might …”  She shook her head, frowning in obvious confusion.

 “I don’t know, either, Natalie.  But the next time you start feeling like that, as if you aren’t fully in control, you need to let us know that.  I know, you don’t know why things were such a mess upstairs, but if something like that happens again, even if you don’t understand why, say so.  I’m not trying to scare you, but something could have come through the Rift that impaired your reasoning capacity, and that has the potential to put all of us in danger,” Jack replied.  She blanched, but this time it was in horror, rather than shock.  He kissed the top of her head, murmuring, “We were lucky this time; however, just to be safe, I want Owen to scan you when we get back to the house.  It doesn’t have to be right away, but I want him to make sure there’s no alien influence.  I don’t think so, because it would have affected your dealings with the rest of the family.  Still, it’s not worth taking that chance.  Okay?”

 “Understood.  And I promise, this is the last time I’ll say it:  I’m _so_ sorry, Jack.  No matter how much your comments may have hurt me in that moment, I didn’t have to be a brat about it.  I chose to react the way I did, and I am beyond sorry for that,” Natalie said.  Strangely, her apology didn’t irritate him.  Or maybe it wasn’t so strange, when he stopped and thought about it.  She wasn’t expecting her apology to make everything right.  He drew her against his chest once more, and was heartened to discover that her hesitation was easing.  If he knew Natalie, she would continue to struggle with her attraction to him … and with the concept that she was ‘betraying’ her friend. 

 “Apology accepted.  I’ll forgive you, if you’ll forgive me.  Deal?” Jack asked softly.  There was a soft laugh, as she whispered back, ‘ _deal_.’  He held onto her for another minute, before releasing her to start walking again.  But he kept his arm around her shoulders.  There would be more fallout, he knew, especially once Carlyon realized that she’d been feeling not herself for several weeks, but things were on the right track.  He had the sense that whatever caused this earthquake would end up being far more dangerous than anyone realized, and the last thing they needed was a distraction like this had the potential for being. 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

It took them a little time, but eventually, Toni and Tosh put together what they knew.  It shouldn’t have taken so much time, since they really didn’t _know_ much, but Tosh was dead for four years, and there was a lot she missed.  It wasn’t just the so-called Miracle Day (and the more she heard about that, the more she hoped for their sake that she never caught up with the perpetrators of _that_ atrocity):  there was also the matter of the children, nearly three years earlier.  Toni really didn’t know much about it, since she wasn’t among the children affected, but what she did tell Tosh was blood-chilling, especially with regards to that so-called vaccination.  Yeah. Right.  Vaccination … was that what they were calling it now?  There was no doubt in the tech wizard’s mind that Jack put a stop to it, just as he ended Miracle Day.  The only question was how, and Tosh wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.  She remembered what Jack was willing to do to save the world.

 There was also when Earth was literally moved out of its orbit.  It felt like a terrible earthquake.  Toni described seeing metal things that looked like oversized pepper shakers, and Tosh’s blood ran cold (or would have, if she had a physical body).  It sounded like she was describing Daleks.  Those things were a nightmare, just from the stories she heard from Ianto when he could finally talk about Canary Wharf.  And while she never said so, she saw Jack’s expression when he realized what descended upon Torchwood One.  For just a moment, little more than a split second, Tosh saw utter terror in Jack’s eyes, before the mask descended once more.  She wondered now if it was the Daleks that caused Jack’s first death.  It was the only reason she could think of for such terror.

 There were other incursions, but Toni really didn’t know much about them, and after the third or fourth time she said so, Tosh stopped interrupting the girl for clarification if she said initially that she only heard rumors.  Right now, Tosh’s primary focus was in facts, and rumors could be used to fill in the cracks later.  And so, she listened and directed Toni to write things down when she was sure it was a fact.  Unfortunately, she still had no idea why this was happening or what was coming.  The only things Tosh was truly convinced of were that Toni believed something terrible was coming and that the girl was right.

 Originally, Toni promised to speak with the Tregarths’ young friend Nicky Halloran when she got home from school the following day, but as they compared notes, Toni began to change her mind.  Finally, after a very uncharacteristic earthquake rattled the house (and Toni), the girl turned on her mobile and called Nicky directly.  He was, Tosh learned, eighteen years old and Tosh had enough experience to realize that Toni wanted to be more than friends with him.  She held her tongue, knowing from painful experience that how you felt and how you should feel were often two different things.  Besides, while it was true that Toni was too young for Nicky now, anything was possible as both youngsters grew up.

 Tosh carefully did not listen in on the conversation, the memory of Mary’s pendant still painful.  Once the conversation was complete, Toni announced, “Nicky says that everyone felt that quake, and it’s got his mom and dad worried.  He’s heading over to the Tregarth place, to see if your friend Jack knows anything about this.  Toshiko?  Do you think that this Rift you were talking about … do you think it has something to do with this?  It’s just that on the night that Tegan and Annis were taken, there was an earthquake then, and it was bigger than most of the earthquakes we get in Oklahoma.”

 “I wouldn’t rule it out.  What else can you tell me about that night?  I know you’ve told me what you remember so far, but sometimes, you’re not aware of forgetting something or overlooking.  Even things that seem minor turn out to be incredibly important later on,” Tosh observed.  Toni clicked her mobile shut, frowning thoughtfully.  Tosh was encouraged that the girl was taking her questions seriously … then again, from what she’d heard so far, the teen had the daylights scared out of her.  First, there was the disappearance of those two girls and the earthquake that followed or occurred at the same time, and then there was the questioning when the Tregarths came a few days later.  She _would_ take this seriously.  If they were in Cardiff, she probably would have been retconned, but for whatever reason, Jack chose not to run that route.  Maybe she would find out, once her mission back in the land of the living was accomplished.

 At  last, Toni said apologetically, “I can’t think of anything else, Toshiko, I’m real sorry.” Tosh smiled, though she was disappointed.  Toni continued, “Can I wake you up if I think of anything else.”  Wake her up?  She was _already_ awake!  Toni blushed and added, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.  But I can tell you later, if I think of something?”  Tosh inclined her head, and Toni sighed, “Well, like I said, Nicky is going over to the Tregarth place.  He was kinda planning to go over anyhow.  He’s studying to be a veterinarian … I mean, that’s what he’s going to study in college … and he always checks on the horses when things get weird.  So, he’ll check in with Captain Harkness and check on the horses at the same time.”

 “And what about you, Antoinette … what do you want to do?” Tosh asked.  Toni put the mobile to one side and wrapped her arms around her legs.  In some ways, Toni reminded Tosh of a younger version of herself, and yet not.  Tosh continued, smiling a little, “Do you have any ideas?  I always loved math and science.  Most girls my age hated both of those, but I was different, strange, a freak.”  A freak.  A memory surfaced, sometime after those missing two days that not even Jack remembered (and didn’t want to remember) … Tosh referring to herself as a freak, and the flash of anger in Jack’s blue eyes as he actually ordered to never speak of herself in that way again. 

 But before she could pursue that memory further, Toni was saying softly, “Sometimes I want to be a nurse, like Nicky’s mom, and sometimes I want to go into the military.  I don’t think I’m strong enough to do that, though.  I don’t know yet, Toshiko, and sometimes I think I should.”  Tosh smiled at the girl gently, and Toni continued, “You think it’s okay that I don’t know what I want to be?”  Tosh nodded, because by the time Toni was eighteen, she would likely change her mind five and six times. 

 “I think it’s more than okay.  You’re still very young, Toni, and you’ll have so many experiences in your life.  I know when I was fifteen, I never expected to be part of a team that helped to save the world,” Tosh replied.  She thought about how she died, thought about the people she’d known.  She thought about Tommy, about Mary, about trying to sooth away Jack’s nightmares.  She thought about the original Captain Jack Harkness and her time in 1941 with her Jack.  And in the end, she looked back at Toni, adding, “And you know something?  It was worth _every_ moment of terror, of pain.  It was worth it all, and I’d do it again.”

Toni was silent for a long time, and when she spoke at last, her words stunned Tosh.  The girl murmured, “I hope I’m as brave as you are when I’m grown up.”  _Brave_?  Tosh blinked at the teen, who nodded and continued, “You’re _so_ brave.  You died, helping to save the world, and you’d do it again.  That’s really brave.”  Tosh never looked at it that way.  She was doing what had to be done, and making sure that Owen wasn’t alone as he ceased to be, but that wasn’t especially brave.

 For the first time, she really thought about what dying over and over meant.  She died and had oblivion until something woke her up.  But Jack … he died and he came back.  The longest time he stayed dead, to Tosh’s knowledge, was three days … after he defeated Abaddon, after he destroyed Abaddon.  And that memory still hurt, even after all these years.  But … he died, after Owen killed him, and then he confronted Abaddon.  Still wobbly, still shaky, but he faced off with that monster.  It caused him agony, but he did it.

 So, who was the more courageous one?  The person who could only die once … some pain, maybe even agony, and then oblivion … or the one who died and came back, who faced the possibility of living forever, who loved and lost and then loved again?  She remembered the explosion of pure joy she felt when she saw Jack appear with Gwen, which was surpassed only by the joy she felt when his arms wrapped around her.  He was back, he was holding her, and he forgave her.  He forgave all of them. 

 He left, but he came back.  Three months later, but he came back, and Tosh realized that he didn’t have to.  Would she have come back, in his position?  If someone betrayed her that horribly, and she had the chance to find out why she was the way she was, would she have come back?  Tosh was sick to realize that she wouldn’t have.  She would have stayed away, and let them stumble along on their own.  He came back.  He came back and he didn’t have to. He came back because he loved them.  Tosh didn’t know why she came back, but she would _stay_ for Jack.

 

 TBC


	5. Bleed-Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natalie apologizes to the rest of her family; Owen makes a potentially-devastating discovery during an exam; while the Gelfth make the second move in their new game.

Not surprisingly, when Jack and Natalie joined the others downstairs, things were in an uproar.  Natalie’s mother took one look at them and smiled, mouthing, ‘ _talk to me later_.’  Nat bobbed her head … that was just one of many conversations she needed to have, but it meant a lot to her that her mother, who was so very protective of Jack, was willing to listen to her.  She likely wasn’t pleased with Natalie (who, in fact, wasn’t very pleased with herself), but she would at least listen to her.  Her father would chew her out up one side and down the other, but that was to be expected.  Her two sisters, on the other hand …

“Natalie Sophia Tregarth, you naughty girl!  I thought we would have to take Priscilla’s suggestion and lock you and Jack into a closet until you worked things out … and Jack, I get enough jokes from Sexy Rexy about closets!” Octavia blurted out, sweeping over to scoop Natalie into her arms.  The younger woman didn’t even manage an ‘eep’ as her sister tried to squeeze the life out of her.  And what was this about locking her and Jack in the closet?  That would have been a disaster of epic proportion!  She caught Priscilla’s eye over Octavia’s shoulder, and to her astonishment, her oldest sister blushed.  Really?  Priscilla honestly thought that locking her and Jack in anywhere was a good strategy?  REALLY?

Jack evidently agreed, observing dryly, “As much fun as that might have been, especially in a small closet, I don’t think that would have worked too well.”  Ahhh … no.  That would have been … well, she already said a disaster of epic proportion, but the more she thought about it, the more it became clear to her that calling it that would have been a massive understatement.  Jack added with a cheeky grin, “Nice thought, though, Priscilla … I’ll keep that in mind for future reference.”  Judging from the way her oldest sister gulped, Natalie had the distinct impression that Jack’s comment wasn’t nearly as innocuous as it sounded.

“And that gives me the opening I needed, thank you so much for that, Jack,” Natalie observed and Jack grinned at her impishly.  She rolled her eyes, turned to her sisters, and said more seriously, “I owe everyone an apology for the way I’ve been acting.  I think Jack and I have worked things out, to both of our satisfaction.”  Jack’s eyebrows waggled at that, and Nat thought briefly about telling him to get his mind out of the gutter.  But then, she saw the way both of her sisters were reacting (as if they were trying not to swallow their respective tongues), and decided to ham it up.  She sidled over to Jack, slipping her arm around his waist, and batted her eyes at both sisters.  Jack laughed aloud with delight, while her mother rolled her eyes.

However, Sophia answered, “Apology accepted, dear one … we were all worried about you, but as long as you and Jack sorted it out, that’s the most important thing.  But sweetheart, just understand that you need to tell us what’s bothering you.  It may be too big for you to handle alone, and not only are we a family … we’re also a team.  What affects you, affects all of us.”  Yeah, so she was realizing … and the longer since her ‘breakthrough,’ the harder it was for her to understand what she was thinking.

“Soph, what’s the latest?  Where’s Nicky?” Jack asked before Natalie, or her mother, could go off on a tangent.  And, unfortunately, that was entirely possible.  Natalie’s mother blanched a little … oh, that didn’t look promising … and Jack continued, “That doesn’t bode well.  What’s happened?”   Sophia, Priscilla, and Octavia all looked at each other, their expressions ranging from ‘worried’ to ‘somewhat confused,’ and Jack muttered, sounding more than a little exasperated, “There’s a reason they say ‘ _the silence is deafening_.’  Now, just how bad is it?”

“Nicky got a call from Toni Weber, the young girl who was involved when the Rift opened here in Oklahoma,” Priscilla answered, sounding more than a bit reluctant.  Jack nodded … they all remembered that, but Natalie realized that she was reminding them of this for their mother’s sake.  Priscilla went on, “Something must have spooked her but good to call Nicky at home.  She has something of a crush on him, something that her mother doesn’t like at all.  And ever since the Rift opened, Toni has been trying very hard not to disappoint her parents again.”

Which meant whatever was going on, it was important enough for Toni to risk her parents’ ire.  Oh, this wasn’t promising at all.  Jack asked, “Is Nicky still here?”  Priscilla nodded and their immortal captain nodded, murmuring, “We’ll need to talk to him. Nat, did you want to see to Ailsa first, or …?” Natalie allowed herself a small smile and Jack narrowed his eyes at her, adding, “Is there something you’d like to tell me, Natalie Sophia?”  His question was answered a moment later when a familiar squeal threatened to burst everyone’s eardrums, along with two sets of footsteps galloping down the staircase.  Jack looked back at her, obviously amused as he added, “Of course.  You hung back briefly before we went into the upstairs computer room.”

A pint-sized missile zoomed past him and Natalie dropped to one knee … partly to catch her daughter and partly to avoid being knocked over.  A second after that, a small body impacted her own and she still nearly fell over.  Esther said, entering the room at a slightly more sedate pace, “She was very pleased when she woke up and heard that Mommy and Jack were okay now.  And you _are_ okay, aren’t you?  Both of you?”  Natalie bobbed her head briefly as she rose to her feet with her daughter in her arms, Ailsa’s legs wrapped around her waist.  Esther asked, a note of steel entering her voice, “So what happened?” 

“That’s a very long story, Esther, and once we finish with this, I need to see Owen,” Natalie replied.  Now, the quiet steel in Esther’s expression was replaced with confusion, and the youngest Tregarth offspring added, “It seems I wasn’t in my right mind at the time, and I have to figure out exactly what happened.  Yes, Jack, you’re quite correct … _we_ have to figure out exactly what happened.  The best way I can think to explain is … okay, you know when you’re trying to tune the radio and you think you’ve gotten the right station?  All of the information checks out, but you’re getting some bleed-through on other stations?  That’s what it felt like.”

Ailsa pulled back to look at her, her own confusion evident, “So you weren’t really mad at Jack, Mommy?”  Natalie shook her head.  No, she wasn’t mad and she wasn’t angry … at most, in her right mind, she would have been mildly irritated.  Ailsa continued, “Did you say you’re sorry to Jack?  You’re s’posed to say you’re sorry, Mommy, remember?”  Esther bit her lip, eyes twinkling as she evidently figured out what was coming next … the rest of the Tregarth females gathered all smirked … while Jack just looked resigned.  Oh, he knew what was coming next.

Natalie reassured her daughter, “I did apologize to him, baby, and gave him a great, big hug.  But you know something?  I think he would like it a lot if you gave him one, too?”  She raised her eyebrows and lowered her voice.  A pout appeared on her little girl’s face, but only a tiny one.  However, Ailsa threw her little arms around Natalie’s neck, giving her a hug that threatened to cut off her oxygen supply … or would have, if Natalie weren’t used to her daughter’s fierce hugs.  And then, the pressure was eased and Ailsa made one of her lunges for Jack.  He quickly grabbed her, shooting Natalie a _very_ filthy look, which said oh so clearly, ‘ _you **will** pay for this_!’  She merely smiled sweetly.  He’d have to catch her first.

And Ailsa was squeezing Jack for all she was worth, murmuring, “I’m sorry I was mean to you, Jack.  I thought you hurt Mommy.”  _I thought you hurt Mommy.  I thought Mommy was hurt_.  Natalie glanced over at her oldest sister, who was smiling faintly as she recognized those words as well.  Jack merely hugged Ailsa in return, kissing the top of her head lightly.  She knew that making things right with the entire family was only just beginning … her father would not be pleased with her at all.  Well, that was to be expected.  She braced herself for the fireworks that would commence once Nicky told them what they needed to know. 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

As it happened, Owen Harper missed most of Torchwood’s figurehead ranting at his youngest daughter, because the doctor spent more of his time in the bunkhouse while Lucas brought him up to speed on Gaetano.  The young Italian boy timidly asked that Lucas be the one to treat him, because Owen scared him.  Evidently, while Owen’s people skills improved while he was in the other dimension, they hadn’t improved quite enough.  Or, as Carlyon observed when he heard about the boy’s request, his Jack-skills improved far more than his people-skills did. 

_Yeah, yeah, ha, ha_.  From what Lucas said, it sounded like Gaetano was making good progress.  He healed from the snake bite, and he was settling in with the Havelocks.  It was funny, really, when Owen thought about it.  The Havelocks and the Hallorans were staunch allies to the Tregarths and Torchwood.  It was true that the Hallorans were there from the beginning, when the Rift re-opened; and since the night Owen returned to Earth, the Havelocks were always around when they were needed.  He knew that like Matthew Halloran, Charles Havelock wanted to make amends for what he did while being possessed by the Kinnickkinnock.  Unlike the latter, however, Matthew Halloran was never a member of UNIT … nor was he on the Valiant during the Year that Owen couldn’t remember.  Charles Havelock, however, was … and the last time Owen accompanied Gaetano to their home, he finally broke down and told Owen exactly what he wanted to know about that Year, about the Valiant, and everything that happened.

Owen wished to Christ he’d known about this sooner, and yet, he couldn’t blame Jack for not wanting to talk about it after the Year was turned back and he returned to them.  No one liked admitting when they were hurt that badly … most people just wanted to forget if they could, and move on with their lives … and Jack wasn’t just hurt, he was tortured.  Charles Havelock’s self-loathing was obvious to see, but Owen realized that he couldn’t blame the former UNIT member, either.  Oh, he wanted to … but he was wise enough (to say nothing of mature enough) to acknowledge that he probably couldn’t have done any better.  Hell, he probably would have gotten himself killed the first time this Master did anything more than shoot Jack in the head, and that wouldn’t have helped anyone, least of all Jack.  If he’d had to watch Jack being tortured … especially so soon after Abaddon … he would have gotten himself killed.  There was no question in Owen’s mind about that.

_I came back for you … for all of you_ , Jack had said upon his return, and for the first time, Owen appreciated what that meant.  He also understood about being used and manipulated.  He understood that painfully well.  Maybe that was why, after Nicky Halloran explained about Toni Weber’s phone call and what exactly that meant, while everyone else was heading off to do research, Owen snagged Natalie’s wrist and murmured, “C’mon down to the Hub and let me check you over while everyone is distracted.”  She nodded and followed him into the bunkhouse and then down into the Hub.

They left Ailsa playing with Jack’s face, as well as Carlyon still fuming that there might have been something wrong with his youngest daughter and no one had known, and it took all of Owen’s self-control to keep from snarking, ‘ _and your daughter grew up thinking that you were her grandfather, what’s your point_?’  However, he understood Carlyon’s fear.  Owen shook his head.  Sometimes, being grown-up really sucked, especially when you could see both sides of an argument.  And it wasn’t even really an argument, but Owen also could see why Natalie didn’t say anything about the way she was feeling. 

He helped her onto the examination table, saying as he got his scanners ready, “So, the best way you can describe it as tuning into a radio station and getting some bleed-through?”  Natalie bobbed her head and Owen continued, “Well, the good news is, I’m not picking up anything that shouldn’t be in there … and the bad news is, I’m not picking up anything that shouldn’t be in there.”  That made her smile, and Owen grinned, continuing, “Okay, I’m switching over … hello, what’s this?”  Natalie froze and he observed, “I’m not sure if anything’s wrong, but I’m going to forward this to my computer.  I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve taken pictures of your brain waves before, and I don’t think they’re supposed to look like that.”

“What, exactly, does that mean?” she inquired, sounding nervous.  Owen flashed a reassuring smile as he put down the scanner, and moved over to his computer.  Oh yes, he had much nicer toys this time around and he thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with those new toys.  He discovered that he could e-mail the results to himself, though it took him a little experimentation to get the letters correct.  Owen thought of Ianto, programming his PDA to locate the SUV while they were investigating the cannibals, and his heart hurt a little.  He missed Ianto more than he wanted to admit, and he knew for a fact that even though Jack didn’t talk about Ianto or Tosh a great deal, he missed them keenly as well.  But Jack had four years to come to terms with Tosh’s death, and nearly three years to come to terms with Ianto’s, and Owen had only a few months.

“It means that your brain waves are a little different than normal, that’s all … but there’s something strangely familiar about them at the same time,” Owen replied a bit absently as he compared the most recent scan with the scan he’d taken when he first decided to remain with Torchwood Oklahoma.  He’d seen a pattern like that before, now where did he put that file?  Oh, right … that was on the flash drive which the Tregarths got from the Colasanto compound. 

“Well, that’s good.  I think,” Natalie replied with a rueful smile.  She winked at him as familiar footsteps clattered down the ladder, adding, “So, have you found anything, Owen?”  He was on the point of saying ‘ _no_ ,’ when his computer beeped at him.  There was a match … and Owen’s blood ran cold.  Natalie asked, seeing his expression, “Owen?  What’s wrong?  Is there something wrong with my brain?”  Owen shook himself, hearing the fear in her voice.

“No … no, nothing like that.  Listen, can you go into the storage room and pull some files for me?  I think I may have caused an issue when I scanned some things in, and I want to verify that,” he answered with a reassuring smile. Well, he was only lying a little … there wasn’t anything wrong with her brain, but he knew damn good and well that the scans were fine.  He just needed to buy himself some time to figure this out.  Natalie eyed him suspiciously, but did as he asked, closing the door behind her.  He said without looking over his shoulder, “You need to see this, Jack.  After Suzie’s second death, I did a scan of Cooper’s brain to cover all bases.”

Jack slipped quietly from the shadows to peer over Owen’s shoulder, not speaking.  The doctor continued, “This is Natalie’s brain waves, taken just moments ago.  See that?  That shouldn’t be there … and it matches Cooper’s brain wave exactly, when Suzie was draining the life from her.”  Owen chanced a look at his boss, and to say that Jack looked furious was something of an understatement.  Owen continued, “I don’t have an explanation for you, Jack.  I’m pretty sure that Suzie and Natalie never met, but that’s what I’m seeing.”

“They never met, but Natalie mentioned that she dreamed of a woman in a coffin telling her that I needed her … at roughly the same time the attack took place.  She saw things through this woman’s eyes,” Jack answered quietly.  He rubbed his thumb along his lower lip, murmuring, “To the best of my knowledge, Natalie was never even in the garage until after that incident.  I don’t know, Owen.  I just don’t know.”  The two men shared a troubled look … concerned for Natalie, and worried about Suzie Costello’s re-entry into their world.  Yes, Suzie’s warning assisted the others in rescuing Jack, and no, there was no connection formed by the Knife or the Gauntlet … but this was the woman who set events in motion so she could return from the dead and kill her father.  There was a good chance that Natalie was still in danger.  Jack murmured, “It was strange … almost as if a switch was flipped inside Natalie’s head, just before the quake.  But we keep an eye on this … do another scan tonight.  Tell her what you need to.”

“I can tell her the truth … the more scans we have, the better it will be,” Owen answered softly and Jack nodded with a small smile.  The doctor continued, mindful of the creak of the door that would announce Natalie’s return, “We won’t let Suzie have her, Jack, her or anyone else.  I promise you, whatever Suzie is trying to do, we won’t let her hurt any of our family or our team.”  Jack’s expression softened, just a touch, and then Owen realized what he’d said.  He’d referred to the Tregarths as his family.  Oh well.  The doctor shrugged, and then the door creaked open once more, admitting Natalie back into the med-bay with the requested files.  She looked from one man to the other suspiciously, but held her tongue.  Instead, Natalie handed the files in question to Owen and conversation turned to the Rift activity.

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

About forty-five minutes after Toni hung up from speaking with Nicky Halloran, her mobile rang and the girl observed, sounding more than a touch surprised (and equally excited), “It’s Nicky … he must be back from the Tregarths.  Hang on, I’ll see what he’s found out … or if there’s anything to report yet.”  Tosh very discreetly didn’t listen, and instead, while the girl was on the phone, tried to figure out the limits of her new/temporary existence.  She would view this as a temporary existence, for the simple fact that she’d been in oblivion for four years.  Tosh quickly learned that she couldn’t manipulate matter, no matter how hard she focused.  Toni could feel it when Tosh tried to touch her, but no one else in the family could.  Attempts to open the doors failed miserably … she could only pass through.  It was more or less what she expected. 

What she didn’t expect was the weird feeling she received when she accidentally stepped through Toni.  You would have expected that sense to be what some called the feeling of someone walking on your grave.  But it wasn’t like that at all.  More like … really, it was more like a dizzy spell when you got up too fast from your chair or a kneeling position.  Or, when she was younger, something that seemed incredibly surreal (after she joined Torchwood … really, when her mother was taken hostage, ‘surreal’ took on a whole new meaning).  Tosh wasn’t entirely certain how it was possible that she could feel anything, but the fact remained that she could.  Not the same as having the ability to touch (something she missed far more than she thought she would), but it was still something.

During Toni’s brief (but intense) conversation with her Nicky, Tosh reflected on what she learned since her return to the land of the living.  Jack left Cardiff, most likely after Ianto’s death … a new Rift opened in Oklahoma … Ianto was dead … someone named ‘Owen Harper’ was part of Jack’s new team … Toni’s heartthrob Nicky both envied and admired Jack.  It seemed that Jack saved the boy’s life at some point in the past, and Tosh wondered if it resulted in another death for her former captain.  On the other hand, wasn’t he still her captain?  Tosh realized with a bemused humor that he was indeed.  Jack was still her captain and she still loved Owen.  There were some things that truly never changed.

Toni reported back that the Tregarths were aware of the earthquake, and that they were monitoring it … whatever that meant.  Tosh, however, knew exactly what that meant.  The Tregarths were, after all, Torchwood.  And Nicky would call them the following day to set up a meeting with Toni.  And Tosh, too, since the ghost/spirit/disembodied soul wouldn’t leave Toni’s side.  She wasn’t sure why, but she had this impetus to stay with the girl.  Maybe it was the teen’s exposure to the Rift, maybe she reminded Tosh just a bit of herself, and maybe Tosh just felt like a protective big sister.  She just knew that she couldn’t allow Toni to go through this alone.  Besides, she couldn’t resist the possibility of seeing not just Jack again, but Owen as well … if it really _was_ her Owen.

After Toni finished with what she wanted to say, the girl fell silent for a while, and Tosh realized there was more she needed to know.  A lot more, even if it had nothing to do with the situation at hand.  At the top of that list was the obvious … namely, their likely allies.  Tosh asked, “So, the other people with Jack … with Captain Harkness … what are they like?  You told me their names, but I’d like to know a little more about them.”  Her young companion looked a little startled, but that didn’t last long.  Her eyes narrowed, in a way that Tosh was beginning to recognize as her ‘ _I need to think about that_ ’ expression.  They had plenty of time, and Tosh grimaced.  Actually, no … no, they didn’t have a lot of time, that was the worst part.

At last, Toni replied, “Well, there’s Mr. Carlyon Tregarth, the head of the household.  He’s a World War II veteran who moved to the United States, like, a thousand years ago from the UK.  He has three daughters … Priscilla, Octavia, and Natalie, but everyone thought for a long time that Natalie was his granddaughter, ‘cause she’s a lot younger than Priscilla and Octavia.  She’s younger than my mom and dad, I think, but not by much.  His wife’s name is Sophia … she’s real pretty, and kinda cool.  She’s supposedly eighty or so, real old, but she was in cryo-stasis, so she looks the same as when she went into her cryo-stasis.”  If it were possible, if she still had a body, Tosh’s eyebrows would have climbed into her hairline.  Interesting.  Very interesting.

There were also the grandchildren, aside from little Ailsa, who was five years old and the adopted daughter of Natalie Tregarth:  Jason and Lucas Martinelli, the sons of Octavia Tregarth, who were twenty-five and twenty-two respectively; and Adriane Tregarth, who was twenty-three.  Tosh learned that Jason was a former soldier and Lucas was an EMT and pilot for the family (she made a mental note to ask about that later).  That wasn’t taking into account the two Americans who recently joined Jack:  Rex Matheson, the former CIA agent who was having an affair with Octavia (much to Toni’s delight and Tosh didn’t bother asking why); and Esther Drummond, a young blonde woman whom Toni was both jealous of and intrigued by. 

Tosh bit back her observations about being jealous of someone she’d never met, but asked why she was intrigued by the blonde girl, when she wasn’t jealous of Adriane Tregarth (with whom Nicky Halloran was actually in love).  Toni answered simply, ‘ _because she’s pretty, she’s with Captain Harkness and Nicky really likes her a lot_.’  That surprised Tosh a little … not that her young companion was jealous of someone her infatuation/wished-for love liked, or even that Nicky envied as well as admired Jack, but what did surprise her was the information that Jack was involved with this girl Esther.  Yes, she once told Gwen that Jack would shag anyone who was gorgeous (or, at least, he considered gorgeous), but she remembered the way he looked at Ianto.  On the other hand, it was what, three years since Ianto’s death?  And Jack would live forever.  Tosh would have shuddered, if she could have.

But Toni continued, “Well, you know that Nicky told me that Miss Drummond took care of Captain Harkness while he was sick … and then he thought she was dead.”  Oh.  That changed everything, right there … not just that Esther Drummond looked after Jack, something she already knew, during the abomination known as Miracle Day, but that Jack thought he’d lost her.  She remembered how he mourned for his namesake when they returned from 1941, a man whom he’d known only for a few hours.  To think that he’d lost a young woman who cared for him (and Tosh still didn’t know exactly what happened, in part because Toni herself didn’t know).  He’d lost Ianto (to say nothing of Tosh and Owen); he’d lost Esther and gotten her back.  He wasn’t about to throw that away.

She was on the point of asking another question when Tosh felt _something_. It was quite powerful and … evil.  Tosh never understood what people meant when they described a house being evil or something being evil incarnate … until now.  Toni must have sensed something as well, because she asked with a trembling voice, “What is that?  Do you feel it too?”  Tosh nodded, growing more and more disturbed by everything that was happening.  That was bad enough … but what came next was even more disturbing.

Toni’s light brown eyes literally turned white and she chanted, “ _Pity the Gelfth, for we once had corporeal bodies, as this child does … but the Time War, the Time Lords, stole that from us.  Once before, we sought entrance into your world … but the Time Lord known as the Doctor denied us.  He turned our Rift child against us and she destroyed our portal.  We seek only corporeal bodies to touch and feel once again.  You can understand that, can you not_?”  Tosh didn’t answer at first … she knew about the Doctor, of course. She’d met him during one of his incarnations, and Jack thought highly of him.  Torchwood was founded to protect the British Empire in specific and the Earth in general from the Doctor, but Tosh was inclined to trust Jack when he said that the Doctor sought to protect the Earth.

So, if the Doctor prevented the Gelfth from entering their world, it was a pretty good bet that the Gelfth meant humanity no kindness.  Tosh asked, “And how would you get these bodies?”  She actually had a very good idea, but she wanted them to tell her.  If she was correct, she would need Toni’s help to reach Jack … and Toni would remember what the Gelfth said while he/she/it/they were in her body.  Besides, this would give her time to think about what she would say.  _There was_ , she thought a bit ruefully, _something to be said for buying yourself time.  Especially when you were an apparition who couldn’t reach the rest of your team and your only current ally was a psychic teenager already touched with the Rift_.

“From your dead.  They no longer need their bodies, their spirits have left this plane of existence … as yours should have … and their bodies are now nothing more than empty husks,” was the reply.  Tosh shuddered a little … on the one hand, she couldn’t argue with that particular truth.  On the other hand … it creeped her out.  It was one thing to wear someone else’s clothing … but to wear someone else’s skin?  That just …  However, she didn’t have to do it.  The Gelfth-in-Toni continued, “ _Will you grant us this boon, child of the Rift_?”

“That is not my choice to make.  In three days time, I will meet you at the newest extension of the Rift, and then, I will tell you what humanity has decided … along with how the Gelfth will leave this world,” Tosh answered.  There was no answer from the Gelfth … but Toni’s eyes returned to normal and she collapsed to the ground with a whimper.  Tosh swore under her breath, because she had no body and thus, no way of breaking the girl’s fall.  Or of comforting her, as Toni’s broken sobs tore at her heart.

“We can’t let them do this, Toshiko!  They don’t stop with dead bodies … they kill the living and assume their bodies as well!  I saw in their minds, and they want to take over the entire world!  The Doctor was right to deny them entrance to our world,” Toni sobbed.  Tosh nodded grimly.  She thought as much.  Back when she first joined Torchwood, Suzie went through the old archives for their Cardiff branch.  Their branch wasn’t formed until several years later, but there were still records from that time.  Tosh wondered about that … and if Jack had something to do with it.  Toni sat up, wiping at her eyes … wiping away the tears, but not the fierce determination.  She went on, “I saw more than they thought … they caused the earthquake.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.  Toni, I know you’re scared out of your mind and I know you’re shattered, but right now, I need you to be strong.  While the information is still fresh, I need you to write down everything you remember … everything that might help us, no matter how small or strange it sounds,” Tosh told her.  She hated herself for putting this on the girl, but she had no hands, no way of recording this.  And somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if this was sometimes how Jack felt.  The memory of Tommy pushed itself to the forefront of her mind, but Tosh pushed it back. She couldn’t afford to think about the past … she had to focus on the present and on the future.  Alive or dead or somewhere in between, Tosh was still a member of Torchwood, and she was still bound to protect the Earth in any way she could.

 TBC


	6. When the Dead Walk the Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlyon looks to the future; a prisoner of the Families makes her voice heard (and she ain’t happy at all); while the local sheriff puts in an appearance. For the record, the actress who popped into my head when I created Sheriff Pilar Espinosa is Lana Parilla, the incredibly awesome actress who plays Regina on Once Upon a Time.

Carlyon Tregarth wasn’t at all happy about the way things had gone over the course of the day.  It was bad enough when his youngest daughter took offense at a comment of Jack’s while they were working at the veterans’ home.   Natalie tended to be his quiet child, and when she got upset, so did her daughter.  And then, he learned that she’d not been feeling like herself during the last few months … right around the time they went to Nevada, in fact.  Like Jack, he was quite certain that she wasn’t exposed to any alien influence, but that wasn’t the point.  She was his daughter, his little girl, and the idea that something could have been happening to his baby daughter to change her personality so drastically … it frightened him.  It frightened him terribly.

 And no, he wasn’t happy with her lashing out at Jack over what was basically an innocent tease, but that was between them.  Jack would (and did) handle it as he saw fit.  Carlyon’s concern was with his daughter’s mental health and with the possibility that something could have a foothold on his Torchwood branch.  He was equally aware that Owen Harper considered him something of a hypocrite, given what Carlyon kept from Natalie for so many years.  The young doctor wouldn’t say anything … he was still too uncomfortable with his place in Torchwood Oklahoma, but he could see it in Owen’s expression.

 However, Owen did tell Carlyon what he (and Jack) believed was what happened to Natalie.  For the first time, Carlyon heard about how his old friend was attacked during their time in Nevada.  Oh, he knew about the event, but this was the first time he heard any details … including the revelation that Natalie had a nightmare that led her to the garage where Jack died repeatedly.  It was then that Owen explained that he compared Natalie’s brainwaves against those of Cooper’s when a connection was created between the former constable and the late Suzie Costello, and found some similarities.  It wasn’t hard to see where Owen was going with this.  Carlyon asked, ‘ _so you’re telling me that somehow, a dead woman forged a connection with my daughter to warn her about the danger to Jack_?’  Owen nodded, and Carlyon went on, ‘ _and you think that is what caused Natalie to feel unlike herself_.’

 ‘We _don’t know for certain, Carl, but I find the timing real interesting_ ,’ Jack observed.  He and Owen exchanged a look, and then Jack continued, ‘ _I just … I’ve learned the hard way not to underestimate Suzie Costello, and I’m not willing to risk Natalie’s life or sanity by assuming Suzie’s out of commission for good_.’  Carlyon couldn’t disagree with that.  Privately, he warned the supposedly dead woman what he would do if she harmed his child.  He had no idea yet what he could do to her, but her lack of a corporeal body wasn’t about to stop him from protecting any of his daughters.

 But there was another issue, a far more immediate issue, and one that he couldn’t quite bring himself to address yet.  It involved information he’d received from Washington DC earlier in the week.  Being the director of Torchwood, even as a figurehead, meant making painful decisions … and sometimes, that was as ‘simple’ as breaking bad news to someone.  Once Lucas finished briefing Owen about Gaetano’s progress, Carlyon put him to work confirming that information.  His younger grandson merely looked at him for several moments, before lowering his head and starting his work.  By now, Carlyon was growing used to Lucas reacting in such a way.  Owen referred to it as his ‘ _okay, whatever, I’ll do it, I don’t wanna know_ ’ expression.  Carlyon had a hard time disagreeing with that estimation of things.  It was actually quite irritating, that habit of Owen’s of saying things that he couldn’t disagree or argue with.  In some ways, the returned doctor reminded Carlyon quite a lot of himself when he was young, and that terrified Carlyon as few things could have.  Well, there was something that terrified him even more … the thoughtful expression on Jack’s face when he once mentioned that fact to his old friend, to say nothing of his wife’s almost evil smirk when that observation was repeated to her.

 That wasn’t taking into account the recent ‘earthquake’ which was patently not of this world.  The odds were good that it was Rift-related, but he was holding off on making that call. Information was still coming in about that, and his initial hopes that there was an explosion at an oil refinery were dwindling.  The Rift was involved, and he didn’t yet have enough information.  None of them had enough information yet, and information was power.  He made a face when he realized what he’d just thought.  There were times when Carlyon wondered what he was thinking when he proposed rebuilding Torchwood with Jack … he was eighty-nine years old, after all, and nearing the end of his life.  He couldn’t see the end of his life, but Carlyon knew that he was running out of time. Shouldn’t he be enjoying his grandchildren and getting to know his youngest daughter properly, as her father rather than as her grandfather? 

 But then he remembered the look on Jack’s face the night that he learned the truth about the 456, and Carlyon knew that at the very least, he had to atone for that.  Besides, this new Torchwood branch was a legacy, was his legacy, to his children and grandchildren (and, God forbid, any great-grandchildren he might see).  While they were all painfully inexperienced right now, excluding his two oldest daughters, he knew that with Torchwood, he’d given a purpose to his youngest daughter and three oldest grandchildren.  After he was gone, it was up to them to decide what would be done with it.  There were worse things to do with one’s life … far worse.

 For now, he had paperwork to complete (the bane of his existence … apparently, the amount of paperwork that had to be filled out even by a Torchwood figurehead tripled in the last forty-five years).  This, at least, was simple … Her Majesty wanted a full profile on the entire complement.  He’d done the hardest ones first … Rex and Esther and his own … and now he was working on the rest of the family.  Oh, Carlyon knew she wanted the profiles to make sure he had strong, honorable people in his Torchwood branch.  But he also knew that she was concerned about Jack.  She asked him about their immortal friend every time they spoke.  Carlyon suspected that where Her Majesty was concerned, that eighteen year old girl who first met Jack Harkness still resided deep within her soul.  Jack had that effect on people.

 He made sure to tell her what was passed along by way of Angelo Colasanto’s lawyer:  how his men were in the UK, watching over Jack’s daughter Melissa.  She was silent briefly, before saying quietly that she was pleased.  Carlyon found that very telling.  ‘I,’ rather than the royal ‘we,’ which made it clear that she was speaking as Jack’s friend, rather than as the Queen of England.  He was pleased as well.  He knew that Angelo had a wider reach than he would admit to, and so long as Angelo’s men drew breath, Alice Carter would be well-protected.  He hadn’t liked her mother, but she was Jack’s daughter … and for that reason alone, he would ensure that she was protected to the best of his ability.

 Assuming, of course, that it wasn’t already too late. 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

She thought she hit the lowest point of her life two years earlier when she lost her entire family, lost everything that mattered to her.  She was wrong … so terribly, painfully wrong.  First came the two or three days when she could remember nothing (something that made her shudder, because the unknown is so much more terrifying).  Next was the Miracle, those dreadful two months when previously-dying people were placed into ovens (to say nothing of a fully-conscious, fully-coherent woman, which gave her nightmares for weeks) … when no one died, when no one could die.  She tried to kill herself often enough, and for the first time, she began to see the outlines of what her father endured. 

 There was a time when she told someone that a man who couldn’t die had nothing to fear.  Oh, she was so very wrong about that.  So, so wrong, and it was too late for her to realize that, to accept that, because too many things went wrong between her and her father, even before his final betrayal.  And she wanted to put all the blame on him, but she knew how dishonest it would have been to do that.  She no longer had the energy to lie to herself.  So, when the Miracle ended and those suffering through life finally began to die (began to find peace), she felt a fierce pride, because she knew … she _knew_ , without any doubt, that it was her father who put an end to this atrocity.  She had no idea how he did it, but she didn’t care.  She hadn’t forgiven him, and probably never would (or so she told herself at the time), but she was so proud of him for ending that obscenity and ending the suffering of so many. 

 And now?  Well, now, even her assertion that she’d never forgive her father was fading.  Ever since she was captured, three and a half months after the end of the Miracle, she’d learned a great deal about the things her mother kept from her.  Oh, her father was no angel … he never claimed to be, but her mum wasn’t the victim she claimed to be either.  And it made her angry … so terribly angry.  Angry with her mum for lying to her and angry with her father for not setting the record straight.  It began when that red-haired slag mocked her mum, saying, ‘ _she must have really hated your father … she renamed you after a woman who tortured him_.’  She stared at the American chippy, who took gleeful advantage of having a captive audience to read her excerpts from her namesake’s journal, excerpts that made her mouth go dry with horror.  At first, she tried to tell herself that he deserved it, after what he’d done to her.  But the more she heard … oh God, the more she heard, the more she wanted to be sick.  It simply never occurred to her, the many ways you could hurt someone who couldn’t die … who couldn’t stay dead. 

 She also learned that the man whom her captors killed when she was taken was there to protect her.  Evidently, a past lover of her father’s knew about what her father did to her, and wanted to protect her, since she wanted nothing more to do with him.  A man died, a man whom she didn’t know, and who didn’t know her, but that man died protecting her.  A man died protecting her, and she had no idea if he had a family who mourned him … or even if her father knew what her former lover was trying to do.  She wouldn’t put it past him, and that caused the old hatred to surge within her again, because he had no right, no right in the world to try to protect her, not after what he had done.

 But the next day, her chief tormentor was back, reading more excerpts from the journal of her namesake, and try as she might, she couldn’t cover her ears.  Not then, nor when she learned that her father’s lover at the time died the day before her child did.  She was so very tired of her whirling emotions, of hearing the awful things that were done to her father because he couldn’t stay dead, of swinging back and forth between hating her father for what he was and what he did, and resenting her mother for lying to her, for taking her away from the life she’d known.  There were so many things she’d never known, never wanted to know because then she would have felt a responsibility to do something, and she didn’t want to do anything.  It wasn’t her problem, it wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t her choice to come into this world and every time she tried to leave it, the bloody Miracle interfered.  And she realized, with a horrified gasp, that she sounded like a whining teenager when she talked and thought like that, ‘ _I didn’t ask to be born, I didn’t ask to have an immortal for a father_.’  All true.  But the world didn’t revolve around her, something she should have learned as a teenager … if not sooner … and evidently didn’t.

 Her self-loathing, never far from the surface, needed to be redirected if she wanted to survive this and make sure no one was ever hurt like this again by these monsters in human flesh.  And she did, she realized … she did want to survive, and fortunately for her, there was a handy target for that re-channeling.  It was re-directed to her captors, the horribly-misnamed ‘Families.’  She channeled her self-loathing, her hatred of her father, her resentment of her mother onto them, because they were the closest ones … the ones she could hurt, even in little ways.  And that was only the beginning.  Oh, she already despised her captors.  As soon as she realized they were behind that obscenity misnamed ‘the Miracle,’ she completely loathed them.  But then came the day when she told her captors that if they were trying to lure her father into a trap by using her, they were wasting their time … and they laughed in her face. 

 That was the day she learned that they weren’t trying to lure him into a trap at all.  Her face burned as she remembered how they laughed at her mockingly, truly amused by what they considered her innocence.  They wanted to know how much of her father’s … resiliency … she inherited.  It was then that she learned the story of the Miracle and how they created that abomination.  For the first time, she heard about the night her father was killed, over and over, in the basement of a butcher shop in New York City.  To say that she was horrified would have been an understatement.  It was then that she began to realize the truth:  she still hated her father somewhat, but she loved him as well.  She must have loved him … for what was done to him that night, she wanted to kill whoever was responsible, as well as whoever benefited.

 After that, her hatred of her captors grew.  If she didn’t know better, she would think that was exactly what her gaoler was trying to do … especially after she discovered that agent (whose name she wouldn’t even think … she didn’t deserve the use of her name) put a bomb inside her father.  And how was that made possible?  Because her father was at a hospital, trying to find a child with the intent of seeing how those monsters were controlling the children.  She wanted to be sick when she heard about that … to say nothing of hearing about how he was encased in concrete.  Her mind nearly shuddered to a stop.  Whatever she wanted to do to her father in the wake of that horrifying day, it couldn’t come close to what was already done to him in the name of science, in the name of love, in the name of protecting the Earth, in the name of Torchwood.

 If she hated the days when the red-haired trollop was here, then the days she was left alone were even worse.  Those were the days when she only had her thoughts for company, those were the days when she began to truly process what she was told about … well, everything (including the information that her father used a monster to end a monster.  She couldn’t bring herself to hate him for that.  Especially not when he gave the lesser monster a way to end himself as well).  Even before, the ‘what-ifs’ tormented her.  What if she’d done this, what if she’d done that, what could she have changed to change the events of that day, that week, her entire life?  Not things that she couldn’t control (such as whom her parents were or what her father was), but choices she made … could she have made different choices?  And that was a torture in and of itself, because now, after the fact, she saw where different choices could have been made.  It was long past time she took responsibility for what she did as well.  And slowly, oh so slowly, her feelings changed.  About her mother, about her father, about the mess that was her early life, about everything.  The only thing that didn’t change was her hatred for those who held her captive.

 Day by day, her resistance to the lies told by the monsters grew stronger.  She derived childish glee in her gaoler’s face the day she threw her lunch in her face, at the look of ‘ _she wasn’t supposed to react that way_ ’ that crossed the younger woman’s face.  And that was what was the final trigger for her.  She wasn’t reacting the way she was supposed to.  She wasn’t doing what she was supposed to be doing, and that caused the final piece of the puzzle to click into place.  They were trying to break her, between the experimentation on what would hurt her (everything, really) and the revelations about her father. 

 She would have laughed, but she was still aching over the most recent set of experiments.  They thought to break her.  What they were really doing was putting her back together, with hatred and fury and a fierce desire to protect what family had left.  Her father made his choices, and she made her own, but the wonderful thing about choices was that you could make new ones.  It was too late for her child, it was too late for her mother, it was even too late for her ex-husband, but it wasn’t too late for her.  She had no illusions about how much longer she would live … the red haired bitch let that slip one day, but she swore to herself that before she died, she would hold her father one last time and tell him that he’d broken her heart, but she forgave him.  She only hoped that he would be able to forgive her as well.

 But if there was one thing that Jack Harkness excelled at, aside from destroying things, it was at forgiving those who hurt him.  Alice Carter, who was now taking back her birth name of Melissa Moretti, had no doubt that he would forgive her.  Just as she had no doubt that one day, one way, she would be free of the Families.  When that day came, she would return to her father and stand at his side as they took the Families down together, as a family, the way they should have been all the time.  It was still surreal, having a father who would live forever and age at a glacial rate, but there were far worse things in life.  She already experienced those things and came through on the other side.  They would make the Families rue the day they came after this family. 

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

 

One of the first things she did when she was elected sheriff was institute a policy where, one day a week, she would drive around to the various families on the ‘outskirts’ of town, such as the Havelocks, the Hallorans, and the Tregarths.  Unfortunately, with the advent of Miracle Day (and before then, the mess with the children), she couldn’t always carry out that policy-although she made an exception when some young idiots decided to shoot up the Tregarth house, and brought the wrath of Natalie down upon their idiotic heads-but she did her best.  It had been several months since she was last to the Tregarth place, and it was long overdue for a visit.  That so-called ‘earthquake’ and the weird mierda that went on since then was as good an excuse as any.  Besides, she’d never met their new ‘houseguests,’ who were actually living there, and Sheriff Pilar Espinosa thought it was long past time she remedied that.  Besides, the last time she was there, she hadn’t the opportunity to talk to her high school classmate, Natalie.

 It would have been an overstatement, to say that they were friends, but they weren’t enemies, or even frenemies.  They attended the same classes, and sometimes Natalie would help Pilar with her homework … sometimes, Pilar would correct Natalie’s Latin pronunciation.  They weren’t friends, they weren’t enemies, they were classmates, they laughed and hugged when they graduated from high school, and that was good enough for them both.  Natalie remained in their little town, while Pilar joined the Marines with a desire to leave this thrice-be-damned town behind her for good.  Pilar smiled a bit in spite of herself at her youthful impatience.  She was gone a total of fourteen years.  A long time, to be sure, but not nearly as long as for good, and when she returned to her hometown, the first friend she made was Ava Halloran.

 She rapped lightly on the door, and a pretty young woman with blonde hair stuck her head out, looked first at Pilar and then at her squad car, then said over her shoulder, “Sophia, it’s the sheriff … I think she’s here about the ‘quake’ this morning.”  And yes, Pilar could actually hear the quotes when she spoke of the earthquake.  The blonde girl continued with a friendly smile, “I’m Esther Drummond.  C’mon inside,” and held the door open for Pilar.  The new(ish) sheriff stepped cautiously inside the house and came face to face with the matriarch of the family, Sophia Tregarth.  Who, if the local gossips were to be believed, was frozen for more than thirty years.  Looking at the other woman now, Pilar could believe it.  Sophia Tregarth appeared no more than thirty-five or thirty-six (in other words, Pilar’s own age), but if she was the mother of Priscilla, Octavia and Natalie (!), she was a lot closer to eighty than she was to thirty.

 Her former classmate’s mother smiled and held out a hand graciously, saying, “I’m Sophia Tregarth, and you’ve already met Esther.  Welcome to our home, Sheriff Espinosa.  I understand that you went to high school with my youngest daughter Natalie?”  Pilar nodded a bit warily, because she wasn’t expecting this kind of reception.  Normally, when she came to the Tregarth home, it was to mad dashing about as the boys and their cousin got ready for whatever they had to get ready for.  _Then again_ , she admitted, _that was before the Miracle, and things have changed drastically_.  Sophia continued, “Esther, sweetheart, can you go get Jack?  I think he’s still with Dr. Harper and my husband.”  The blonde girl bobbed her head and disappeared, leaving the two women alone.  Sophia continued, “I’m sorry, I know this is all a bit strange for you, but I really think that my husband and our field team leader should be here … you are here on business, after all.”  It was on the tip of Pilar’s tongue to ask first how she knew that (but the blonde girl Esther announced her as the sheriff), and then to make a comment about women being just as capable of discussing business as men, but something in the other woman’s eyes kept her from potentially putting her foot in her mouth all the way up to her hip.

 Instead, she inclined her head, leaning against the table as she looked around.  The house was pretty much the same, although there seemed to be a war going on between tidiness and messiness.  Pilar had three younger brothers, so she could make an educated guess at who was contributing to the messiness (the youngest Tregarth male, Lucas, was at the top of that list) and who was contributing to the tidiness (Sophia Tregarth herself).  Not that Pilar had much room to talk … her office was spotless, while her bedroom was a mess.  The woman asked curiously, “What was my daughter like as a teenager, Sheriff Espinosa?  I’ve heard from Priscilla and Octavia, but they only saw her at home … not at school.”

 Pilar turned her attention back to her hostess with a small smile, saying, “I don’t imagine she was much different at home than she was at school:  usually very quiet.  She didn’t have that many friends.  I mean, people liked her, but she didn’t let that many people in.  Quinn was one of the few exceptions.  Those two were thicker than thieves.”  She ignored the pang that always accompanied thoughts of Quinn, because even after all these years, and even after everything they went through, there was a part of her that was still in love with him.

 Sophia Tregarth nodded slowly, murmuring, “I’ve heard about Quinn … I haven’t met him yet, but I’ve seen pictures of him from Natalie’s yearbook.  I didn’t know until something was said last night at supper that you and Natalie went to high school together.  My oldest mentioned once that she didn’t know you very well … she said that Ava knew you much better.  I found it a little odd, but Natalie explained that you two were in classes together and that was about it.  Priscilla would have had no chance to get to know you before you left Dupres to join the Marines.”  Pilar felt her brows arch and Sophia gave a small shrug, adding, “I wanted to know who was protecting this town and its people, so I did some checking into you.”

 Checked into her?  The hair on the back of Pilar’s neck raised as she stared at the seemingly-young woman in front of her.  Mrs. Tregarth merely smiled a little, saying, “Of course I did.  I’m entrusting the safety of everyone I love to you.  My husband … my daughters … my grandchildren … my best friend … Rex, Esther, and Owen.  My entire world is within the walls of this house, and they routinely go into Dupres.  I need to know about the sheriff and her deputies.  I learned that you were in the Marines for several years, that you served two deployments in Afghanistan, and that you received an honorable discharge three and a half years ago.  I also learned that one of the reasons you were elected as the sheriff was because of your actions when the 456 returned to Earth … the steps you took to help protect the children in this town.  I must say, I was quite impressed.”

 The 456?  The things that made the kids all speak in unison?  Pilar answered slowly, “I just did what had to be done.”  Strangely enough, that comment only made the auburn-haired woman look sad.  Pilar was on the verge of asking more questions, but it was then that Carlyon Tregarth entered the room, along with the most handsome man Pilar had ever seen.  He was around six feet tall, with dark hair and extraordinary blue eyes, and he was, as Pilar’s oldest niece would have said if she saw him, scary gorgeous.  So, naturally, that made him terrifyingly dangerous.  Pilar learned the hard way in school that males who were that good looking were the worst amount of trouble.

 Trailing behind them was Natalie herself, who smiled a bit when she saw Pilar, saying, “Esther told me that you were here.  It’s good to see you again, Pilar.”  The sheriff nodded, summoning up a smile for her former classmate, and Natalie continued, “You remember my father, Carlyon Tregarth … even though we always thought he was my grandfather.”  That earned her a light swat to the back of her head from the man in question, his expression a combination of exasperated and affectionate.  Nat just grinned up at him, and continued, “And this is Captain Jack Harkness, a friend of the family.  Father, Jack, this is Sheriff Pilar Espinosa.  I went to school with Pilar, Jack, and she served in the Marines for several years.  She returned three and a half years ago … she was a big help when those illegal orders came down.”  Something dark flashed in the captain’s bright blue eyes, but he offered her a brilliant, devastating smile anyhow.

She accepted the hand that was so graciously proffered, as the captain said, “A pleasure to meet you, Sheriff Espinosa.  I _do_ appreciate a woman in uniform.”  The last sentence was all but purred, and Pilar could feel her legs starting to wobble.  The worst part of it was, she had the uneasy sense that Jack Harkness hadn’t turned on the charm full blast … if he could do this now, what would he be capable of when he was using every bit of charm he possessed?  Definitely a dangerous man.  Sophia Tregarth broke the spell with an indulgent smile.

 “You also appreciate a man in uniform, Jack.  I believe Sheriff Espinosa is here about the recent quake,” the woman said.  Man in uniform?  Well, _damn_.  There was no help for it, and Pilar reminded herself that she already put Jack Harkness in the dangerous category.  And with Sophia’s words, the man’s expression changed, growing more serious and … and darker.  A look passed between the three Tregarths and Captain Harkness, and the matriarch said, “Please, sit, Sheriff Espinosa.  I think it’s time you learned the rest of the story, what Ava Halloran has been carefully leading you toward.”

 Now a chill ran through Pilar’s body as she looked at her four companions.  Leading her toward?  What, exactly, did that mean?  However, before she had the chance to ask the question that had to be answered before anything else happened, her radio crackled and her least experienced deputy said, sounding more than a touch nervous, “Sheriff, this is Nathan.  Uhm, I’m at the site of that accident, you know the one the call came in about before you headed out for your rounds?”  Pilar did, indeed, know of the accident and she rolled her eyes, removing her radio from her belt and lifting it to her lips.  She knew that Nathan was as green as grass, but this wasn’t the first accident he handled.

 “What is it, Nathan?” Pilar asked, trying very hard to keep the impatience out of her voice.  It wasn’t Nathan’s fault, not really.  He was only twenty and a part-time deputy until the Miracle.  And even with the end of the Miracle, universities and community colleges were having a hard time starting up again.  Up until about six months earlier, he’d been a part-time deputy, working when his classes allowed for it.  And he was a hard-worker, one of the hardest-working deputies she had in the department.  He was just …  Nathan’s next words drove all impatience and reminiscing out of Pilar’s mind.

 “There … there was a fatality, Sheriff … a woman in her late twenties or early thirties.  She was dead, Sheriff, I checked her myself.  No pulse, no respiration, nothing,” Nathan said, sounding more than a little hysterical.  A quick glance to the family in front of her (or part of the family) revealed that Natalie folded her arms over her chest, a thoughtful expression on her face, while her parents looked at each other with worried frowns, and Captain Jack Harkness … she couldn’t quite decipher what was going on in the brain behind that impossibly gorgeous face.

 She was on the point of trying to calm Nathan when he said, sounding terrified, “I checked her, Sheriff, she was dead!  But she just got out of her car and started walking away, real jerky like.  It wasn’t like the start of the Miracle, either, when that bastard Danes came back to life … it wasn’t like that at all, but Sheriff, she died and now she’s walking away.”  Pilar closed her eyes, remembering exactly what Nathan meant.  When she opened her eyes, however, she discovered that she wasn’t the only one.  Jack Harkness was actually ashen, and the expressions of the three Tregarths were absolutely grim.

 She told her frightened, painfully young deputy, “Understood.  We’ll be there as soon as we can.  And Nathan?  I’m proud of you for not following her or trying to stop her.”  It wasn’t the type of thing she would normally say, but when the dead began walking, it was generally a good idea to stay out of their way.  She replaced the radio in her belt, turned her full attention to the four people in front of her and said briskly, “I’m going to guess that y’all want to come with me.  I have no objection to that, my squad car has plenty of room.  But I want answers.  You may not know what’s going on, exactly, but you know something.”

 “Agreed.  It’s time we brought you into our circle … perhaps even long past time,” Carlyon Tregarth said in his sonorous voice, the one that always made Pilar wonder what he was like as a young man.  And then the words sank in.  Pilar led the four to her squad car (which was actually a Jeep Grand Cherokee), having the uneasy sense that whatever she was about to hear, she would need to be sitting down for.  She just wished it wouldn’t be necessary for her to be driving at the same time.  _Best to get this over with, Pilar_ , she told herself as she led her companions out to the Jeep, _there will be other work to be done once this is resolved_.

 

 TBC


	7. A Female Shaped Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suzie learns a few new interesting facts from Rassilon and acknowledges some truths about herself; we hear from Jason and Lucas, who behave as brothers do; Esther slips into Wendy-mode (as in Wendy and the lost boys); while Natalie and Pilar discuss the past and the present before Jack makes a horrifying revelation regarding the accident.

Colasanto Compound, Nevada

 

There really weren’t many people for him to talk to, to converse with.  Oh, he had conversations with others at the compound, but those were more of him listening than talking.  Being from an advanced race and a lost planet didn’t do much for conversation pieces, and so Rassilon returned to his son’s caravan, where he would tinker (particularly with an old radio that Suzie found) and mull over the most recent reports from the SHIELD helicarrier and his agent there … who was taking entirely too much pleasure in tormenting Olivia Colasanto.  Not that Rassilon blamed him there.  Although, he did have to laugh the last time his agent reminded him that Olivia wasn’t alone in her bad behavior.  Oh, he knew that.  And, as he assured his agent on the helicarrier, the other individual would pay as well … once there was enough rope to hang her.  Rassilon didn’t take kindly to betrayal.  _Ever_.

As he worked, he mulled over what his agent told him about Colonel Fury (aka Director of SHIELD) and about Agent Phil Coulson, who was in fact the grandson of Angelo Colasanto.  That was a most interesting revelation, and Rassilon had to wonder if Angelo’s quest for immortality influenced his behavior toward his children and grandchildren.  Angelo himself looked far younger than the one hundred plus Rassilon knew him to be when he died … closer to seventy-five or so.  Agent Coulson had an unnerving ability to come through a crisis with barely even ruffled hair … even if he should have been badly injured.  (For instance, there was the confrontation with Obadiah Stane, and there weren’t words in any language, English or Gallifreyan, that would describe his opinion of the late Obadiah Stane.)

“What are you doing?” Suzie asked, entering the caravan.  It was her customary greeting to Rassilon … which stood to reason, since he was usually tinkering.  Besides, it seemed his tinkering was far more interesting to Suzie than his relationship to her former boss.  That suited Rassilon, because he was still sorting himself out and why he had so few memories of his son’s childhood.  When he realized that his son was fostered to a couple on the Boeshane Peninsula for his own safety, his rage could have destroyed every building on the compound.  Emphasis on ‘ _could have_.’  As it was, he was grateful that Suzie’s questions were about what he was doing, rather than what Jack was like as a child.  Probably not that different from how Jack was an adult, really:  a hellion with a sweet nature and a big heart.

On this particularly, Rassilon answered somewhat absently, “Working on this radio.  Unless I miss my guess, it was made right around the time Angelo Colasanto first met my son … which is little more than a set of heartbeats for a Time Lord, but is quite old for something made by humans.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think Jack started fixing it before he and the Tregarth ladies returned to Oklahoma, but it was too dusty for that.  The intent is modifying it so that I can hear what’s going on at the helicarrier.  And what have you been doing, my dear, aside from terrorizing Liam Grady?”

“He hurt Jack,” Suzie answered simply and Rassilon raised his head to look at her more fully.  _Oh … really_?  Would his current companion like to expound on that?  Yes, she was atoning for what she had done, but the young woman _did_ kill his son with a bullet to the head, and she did betray him.  He was interested in hearing her clarification on this.  Suzie flushed, muttering, “He hurt Jack because he was attracted to him.  I’ve wanted to clout him a few times myself, but not because I was attracted to him.  That’s just stupid.  Liam Grady is the stupidest smart man I’ve ever met, and I’m including both Jack and Owen in that.”  Rassilon nearly snorted at that, because both the now-alive doctor and his son could be quite foolish.  However, he forgot one very pertinent thing about Suzie Costello.  She had a terrifying ability to see things that she wasn’t supposed to see.  For the next words out of her mouth were, “Why did you bring Owen back from the dead?  Why did you strand him in that other dimension?”

Rassilon nearly dropped the radio in shock.  Suzie was leaning against the table, observing, “You told me that you brought me back … that one reason why you could bring me back was because I used that gauntlet … the twin of which was used to bring Owen back.  You said that gauntlet was yours, which made me yours as well … that you were claiming me because of that gauntlet.  That means that Owen is yours as well.  Now, I’ve listened to you more than you realize and I know that you have some control of the Rift.  Not enough to control the dreck we used to get in Cardiff, but enough that you were able to pull Owen into that other dimension.  You forget what I heard in Natalie’s head when I used her as a puppet.  So the question is, why?”

“Why not?” Rassilon countered.  Suzie blinked in astonishment, and Rassilon continued, “Why would I not save a young man who sacrificed himself so that others might live?  Not happily, no.  Not without complaining, but he did it nonetheless, because there was no one else to do it.  It could be argued that I didn’t save him at all, but damned him by placing him in another dimension where only he could save himself, where there was no one to, as you put it, ‘watch his back,’ much less any other part of him.”  He put his tools down and looked at her closely, adding, “But you don’t see it that way, do you, Suzie Costello?”

“I don’t.  There are many ways to save someone, and I think you saved Owen by putting him in that other dimension, by forcing him to stand on his own, without help.  Yes, Rassilon, you saved his life and you saved his soul.  In truth, you forced him to grow, I think,” Suzie replied.  Rassilon inclined his head because, of course, that was part of his intention.  The young woman continued, “And … you used some of the energy to widen the Rift?  Or am I somewhat close?”  Rassilon merely smiled and Suzie observed, “Ah, so I haven’t earned that information yet.  That’s fine.  I can wait.”

“Perhaps it’s not a matter of earning, but what your little ape mind can tolerate,” Rassilon answered smartly and Suzie rolled her eyes.  He almost laughed, once more understanding why the Doctor took human companions with him through his travels.  If there was one thing he was growing to love about his own human companion(s), it was the joy he found in seeing things through their eyes.  Suzie, especially … broken, damaged Suzie, who was far more whole than when his son first encountered her … she had a singular way of seeing things.  She became a monster, and now sought redemption without becoming an angel.  Rassilon liked that about her.  He had little use for angels … Weeping or otherwise.

“I’ll have to remind you of that the next time you find your son doing the horizontal mambo, as Natalie Tregarth puts it, in a semi-public place,” Suzie retorted and it was Rassilon’s turn to blush.  Yes, Lord President Rassilon of Gallifrey actually blushed when he recalled the discovery of his son and Liam ‘making out’ in the garden.  He blushed at the time as well, because just as there were some things no child wanted to know about his or her parents, there were things that no parent wanted to imagine about their child, and having intercourse was at the top of that list.  Suzie continued, changing the subject (much to Rassilon’s gratitude and relief), “Speaking of which, what did you think of the Tregarths?”

“I don’t know them well enough to make a decision,” was Rassilon’s swift decision.  Suzie just smirked and folded her arms over her chest with blatant amusement.  Rassilon continued, “I did spend some time with Sophia Tregarth, having very enjoyable conversations, but I still don’t know any of them well enough.  What was your decision, after spending some time in Natalie Tregarth’s mind?  I’m particularly interested since she is technically my boss.”  Which she actually wasn’t, but it pleased Rassilon to perpetrate that falsehood.  You learned far more about people with falsehoods than with truth.  It occurred to him that he was as much of a con artist as his son ever was, and that knowledge nearly made him laugh aloud.

“She’s … strange.  Oh, would you stop laughing at me!  I’m just telling you what I saw before you helped me board up that barrier between our minds.  She’s sweet and bitter at the same time.  There’s darkness in her, a different sort of darkness than what I experienced, but darkness nonetheless.  That’s why I wouldn’t let Liam Grady refer to her as pure or put her on a pedestal, because she isn’t pure … unless you mean physically.  And the guilt of what might have been is as strong as guilt for actual misdeeds,” Suzie explained.  Rassilon arched his brows at her and Suzie explained, “It’s part of how I got her to check on Jack … a few weeks ago, an old enemy had Ailsa kidnapped.  Evidently, the kidnappers didn’t realize how resourceful Natalie was, because instead of betraying Jack and trading him for Ailsa, Natalie figured out a way to alert him to what was happening and they formed a plan to save Ailsa.  She’s been haunted by ‘ _what might have been_ ’ nightmares ever since.”

Sophia mentioned some of this to him, not realizing, of course, that he was Jack’s father.  And, of course, she didn’t tell him the whole story because so far as she knew, it wasn’t any of his business.  Which, of course, it was.  However, he wouldn’t hold her misconception against her. Besides, her daughter did the right thing in the end.  And that was the part that he found interesting.  Not just that she did the right thing, but that she continued to be troubled by the situation, even after its successful resolution.  Rassilon murmured, “Intriguing.  Her conscious mind knows that things worked out in the end, that she came up with a way to save her child and protect my son, but her conscience continues to trouble her.  Is that why you chose her?  Or was it simply her vulnerability as she slept?”

Suzie opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it as something occurred to her.  Her dark head tilted to one side, and Rassilon watched with a bemused smile.  He really did find it interesting to watch Suzie’s mind work.  As her mind cleared and she realized what a monster she became, Suzie’s rage against the Families intensified, as if taking them down once and for all was a key to her redemption.  Perhaps it was.  At last, she replied, “I … some of it was her vulnerability as she slept.  Her dreams were already haunted.  Plus, I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this, but she’s a bit stubborn.  I suppose … I was drawn by the idea of controlling someone as tenacious as she is when she’s awake?”

Now she looked ashamed, just now realizing that she hadn’t come as far as she thought she had, and Rassilon put his tools down quietly.  Suzie was trembling, eyes darting about in terror, and the Time Lord rose to his feet, gently settling his hands on her shoulders.  There was a tiny sob and Rassilon kissed the top of her head, murmuring, “And now you begin to realize, child.  There’s far more to redemption than an apology and a redirection of your energies.  Power, and the trappings of power, are so very hard to leave behind … and even when we’re trying to do good, that power can go awry.  But not all is lost, little one.”  Suzie blinked back tears and looked up at him.  Rassilon smiled at her tenderly and murmured, “You now see that for what it is … it has a name, and now you can fight it.”

“I … I never thought of it like that.  I’m taking back control, instead of thinking that I’m in control, when I’m really not,” Suzie murmured, and Rassilon could see the cogs in her mind working.  He smiled fondly, once more appreciating why the incarnations of the Doctor loved humanity so.  In a way, it was like being a father again.  He wondered what Suzie would say to that, and decided now was not the time for that.  Instead, he pulled her into his arms for a comforting embrace, and much to his surprise (and pleasure), the young woman clung to him fiercely.  Perhaps the time for him to tell her that he saw her as a daughter would be at hand sooner than he originally thought.

“Very good, my dear girl,” he murmured into her dark hair, “you’re learning.”  Suzie squeezed him again … the youngling had no respect for the dignity of Lord President of Gallifrey, no respect whatsoever, and Rassilon realized quite happily that he wouldn’t want it any other way.  He loved his son already, but he was quickly falling in love with humanity and thanked the stars that Theta-Ten found the backbone to choose humanity over the Time Lords.  He had his doubts, especially after that horrific Year his poor son endured, but in the end, Theta-Ten did the right thing … for the entire universe.  He would still be having a conversation with Theta-Eleven, who showed great promise.

After a moment, she pulled away, and Rassilon discovered that he missed her warmth, not that he would ever admit it.  She wiped at her eyes, and asked thoughtfully, “Why do you think Natalie is fighting her attraction to Jack so much?  While I was in her mind, that was the first thing I noticed … I don’t know quite how to describe what I saw, but the best way I can think of is, her heart was a dark purple color, with quite a few scars on it, and there was a glass box around it.  And her attraction to Jack was nearly as intense and as fierce as her love for Ailsa is.  Why does that frighten her so?  Why won’t she act on it?”

“Terror.  Sheer, unadulterated terror,” Rassilon answered succinctly.  Suzie frowned, and Rassilon elaborated, “She isn’t just afraid of being rejected … she’s afraid that Jack would welcome her attentions and what might come of that.  In all of her life, she has never responded so fiercely to anyone, man or woman, and it terrifies her … just as it terrified Liam Grady.  The only difference is, she would never deliberately hurt my son.  I did qualify that with a ‘deliberately,’ dear child.”

“Because she _did_ hurt him while I was inside her mind, before I realized how to put a shield between us,” Suzie murmured and Rassilon inclined his head.  That was his understanding.  His ability to reach his son was limited, but it was likely that Natalie did hurt him in some way.  Suzie shook her head, muttering, “She needs to shag him and get it out of her system.”  Rassilon barely bit back a snort and Suzie exclaimed, “Well, she does … shag him, snog him … whatever it takes!”  She still didn’t understand.

“But what if a snog or a shag, as you put it, doesn’t work?  What if they do sleep together, and rather than satiating her, intensifies her desires?  Few things are that simple when you speak of emotions, whether it’s human emotions or Time Lords.  The child’s emotions and desires are a tangled mess, and you shouldn’t assume that having her way with Jack would untangle those knots.  Oh, they’d both quite enjoy it, but there’s more to it than that.  Besides.  No matter how much she wants to … and I’ve seen it in her eyes … Natalie isn’t ready to bed my son.   She has too many trust issues, and can we please drop the subject?  I really have _no_ interest in discussing my youngest child’s sex life.”

Suzie’s lips rounded into a rather comical ‘o’ and her eyes were equally wide.  Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, and Rassilon smirked a bit at her obvious surprise.  At last, she mumbled, “I forgot that Jack is your baby.  So he has a lot of big brothers and sisters?”  In past conversations, he acknowledged that he regarded the Time Lords and Ladies still in the Time Lock as his children … which did mean that he had many siblings, in a roundabout way.  That would be something else he needed to bring up with Theta-Eleven when next they met.  Rassilon smirked, because he couldn’t wait to see Eleven’s expression when he learned that for all intents and purposes, Jack was his little brother.  He would, of course, remember being Nine … and Jack kissing him before he died the first time.  The anticipation of seeing Eleven’s reaction to his little brother kissing him would keep him laughing for days, no doubt.

“Many older brothers and sisters,” Rassilon acknowledged placidly.  Including the one who spent a year torturing him, and oh yes, he still needed to have a talk with Koschei about that.  He knew that he was partly responsible for what Koschei did to Jack, but still.  They needed to have a _very_ long conversation about that.  But that could wait.  Instead, he continued in that placid tone, “He’s only met two of them, and I suspect that would be enough.”

Suzie bit her lip, and Rassilon could just see the girl wanting to ask a question.  But in the end, she said only, “Well, family can be a pain in the arse.”  Rassilon nearly laughed outright … they could, indeed … but held his tongue.  Suzie continued after a moment, “So.  Show me what you’re working on?  Because if this involves the SHIELD helicarrier and tormenting Olivia Colasanto some more, I am SO there.”  Now Rassilon did laugh, because while Suzie was atoning, she hadn’t lost her taste for causing mayhem … and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTW

 

“Okay, who was that?”

Jason Tregarth looked up with a small smile as the sheriff’s Jeep roared away.  Ahh, so it was that time, was it?  His younger brother glowered at him, repeating, “Who … was … that?  And why did Grandfather, Mama Sophia, Jack and Natalie go with her?”  Jason backed away from Jack’s ATV, wiping his hands on the handiest rag.  Jack could fix his own ATV, something Jason knew well, so when Jack asked the former soldier to check a few things, the young man took it for the compliment it was.  It was as much a declaration of trust as a request.

“That was Sheriff Pilar Espinosa.  You probably didn’t recognize her in her uniform,” Jason drawled as he circled the ATV to make sure there were no more spots he needed to clean.  There was a distinct choking sound … kinda like the sound his younger brother made when he was trying to avoid swallowing his tongue.  A quick glance toward Lucas told him that was, indeed, the case, and Jason rolled his eyes as he continued, “Don’t be such a dumb-ass, Luc, I meant that you were probably used to seeing her in civilian clothes.”

“Don’t call me a dumbass, dumb-ass,” Lucas replied automatically and Jason rolled his eyes.  Lucas continued, “Have we seen her before?”  Jason smirked a little … what kind of older brother would he be if he didn’t tease his little brother?  Besides, it had been a while since Lucas even looked at someone with interest.  Jason nodded to himself in satisfaction.  Jack would check it when he got back, but the young man was ninety-nine percent sure that it was as clean as it could be without a proper wash with soap and water.

“She was one of Natalie’s classmates.  I don’t think we saw her while we were growing up, she and Nat weren’t that close.  She _is_ pretty,” Jason acknowledged.  They were in the stone stable, the one that was used as a shelter during the messes with the children and the over-sized pepper shakers.  It was used currently as a workshop … and sometimes their mother’s love nest with Rex Matheson, and oh, didn’t he need brain bleach after having that thought?  However, with more of the new Hub being used, their mother had taken to leading Rex down into the new Torchwood base to … christen various parts of it.  Oh yeah.  Definitely needed brain bleach.  Was it Rex Matheson only who stirred up his mother’s libido or was Jack (Mr. Sex On Legs himself) stirring things up as well?  _Yech, brain bleach now, stop thinking about this **now**_!

Lucas was either completely oblivious or simply ignoring him … and that could go either way … observing, “No.  I’ve seen her somewhere before.”  Jason would have face-palmed, but he was busy wheeling the ATV out of the stables and into the yard.  Besides, there was still grease on his hands, and not the kind of grease that tasted good.  Lucas mused aloud, “Now, where could that have been?”  Jason shook his head and let his little brother ramble.  Besides, he’d get him back later, when Lucas was least expecting it.

“Where have you seen who?” Esther inquired as she ambled out of the house, thumbs tugging at the loops of her jeans.  She smiled at them both, observing, “Looks good, Jason … Jack and I will enjoy trying it out when he comes back.”  When he … _oh_.  Oh crap, he really didn’t need that image in his head.  It was almost as bad as imagining his mother and Matheson doing things he really didn’t want to be seeing.  Evidently, that was visible on his face, because a pinch brought him back to the here and now, and Esther wore an expression that was somewhere between amused and exasperated as she added, “We’ll be riding the ATV together, Jason … we won’t be riding each other.”  Lucas burst into laughter and Jason felt his face burning with embarrassment. 

“Hahaha, very funny.  It’s all your boyfriend’s fault, you know.  I never used to have this problem,” Jason grumped as Esther patted his cheek gently.  And it was true.  He sighed and explained, “Sheriff Pilar Espinosa, who just left out of here with my grandparents, aunt, and your boyfriend.  Lucas is trying to figure out where he’s seen her before.”  Esther’s brows arched, and a suppressed smile threatened to break free.  Jason wondered if it was even remotely possible for him to embarrass himself even worse than he already did.  And then he realized that was an incredibly stupid question, because why yes, of course it was.  It was _always_ possible for him to make a bigger idiot out of himself.

“Well, we can eliminate the recent dance … the one after Owen came through the Rift and after we got Ailsa got back … because Lucas wasn’t there.  Your grandmother said something about her coming back … is it possible that you saw her when the 456 showed up a few years ago, or even during the Miracle?  Something was said about her helping out during both of those messes,” Esther pointed out quite logically.  As a general rule, they didn’t talk about the 456 when Jack was around.  Not because of his reaction, but because of their grandfather’s.  Even if Jack (and Mama Sophia) forgave him, Grandfather still had yet to forgive himself.

“Mmm.  It could have been the Miracle or the 456.  It’s hard to say, but I know I’ve seen her somewhere, sometime,” Lucas murmured, completely ignoring everything else Esther and Jason were saying.  Esther was biting back a smile and Jason rolled his eyes.  Their grandfather always said that Natalie was stubborn, but Lucas had a one-track mind.  And every time he forgot that, his little brother was kind enough to remind him.  On the other hand, with his obvious fascination with Pilar Espinosa, Lucas also gave him plenty of material for teasing and blackmail.  A sidelong glance at Esther told him that she came to the same conclusion.

“Well, regardless, she’s gone with your grandparents, Natalie and Jack to the site of a car accident.  Something weird is going on, and since Torchwood in general deals with weird, the sheriff came here first.  I’m pretty sure that whatever happened with this car accident, it involves the weird earthquake this morning,” Esther replied.  Jason shuddered.  Yeah, that was more than a little weird.  Lucas was hiding (lucky brat) before Jack and Natalie worked things out.  Not that he really blamed his brother:  their youngest aunt was terrifying when she got that quiet.

“Why didn’t you go with them?” Jason questioned and Esther turned to him with a questioning look.  The former soldier observed, “Well, you were here when Sheriff Espinosa showed up, so why didn’t you go with the others?”  Judging from the smile that teased her lips, Jason had a sinking feeling that he just walked right into a … well, not a trap, but he had the distinct feeling that he would regret asking that question.  While Esther was a gentle person at heart, she developed a wicked sense of humor while she was caring for Jack after he was shot.

“Well, for one thing, I hadn’t actually finished my breakfast.  For another thing, there wasn’t enough room for a fifth person …. although it may have been fun to squish up against Jack in the car.  And finally, I promised him that I’d check with you when you were finished with his ATV,” Esther answered.  Jason’s cheeks were burning by the end of her second sentence, and he had a terrifying feeling that if he pressed her for details, his entire face would be on fire at her answer.  The blonde smirked a little, adding, “And now that I have, so I’ll have to let Jack know that the next step is … testing it.”  Or even if he didn’t press her details.  Jason face-palmed, Lucas just laughed out right, and Esther grinned.

“You’re a very bad girl, Esther Drummond … a very, _very_ bad girl,” Lucas snickered and Esther merely shrugged, looking supremely unconcerned.  At least she wasn’t turning into an incorrigible flirt like Jack.  Jason knew that his grandmother was worried about her old friend, because he didn’t flirt the way he used to.  Mama Sophia observed more than once that his heart wasn’t really in it.  Grandfather admonished her, saying that Jack’s natural personality would return when he was ready, when he was more healed.  Mama Sophia simply shook her head, murmuring that there was more to this than the deaths of his lover and his grandson, more to this than the loss of his daughter.  She was truly worried about Jack, but Grandfather wasn’t.  Well, at least no more than usual.

“To quote that animated philosopher, Jessica Rabbit, ‘ _I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way_ ,’ Lucas,” Esther retorted.  Lucas blinked, mouthing, ‘what?’  He looked over at Jason, who felt nearly as lost as Lucas looked, and Esther sighed, “Seriously, guys, you never watched ‘ _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_ ’ while you were growing up?  I need to find a copy, your education has been badly neglected.”  The brothers exchanged a look, and then looked back at Esther once more, who succumbed to her desire to face-palm.  After a moment, she raised her head, cleared her throat and said, “Okay.  ‘ _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_?’ was a movie that came out in 1988, a mixture of live action and animation.  It was about this private detective investigating a murder in Toon Town, where all cartoon characters lived.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Jason murmured.  Esther looked at him questioningly and Jason explained, “Mom and Dad refused to watch anything that had to do with cops or private detectives or anything like that, even comedies.  Said they got enough of that at work.  And the few times they did try to watch those programs or movies, Mom would end up yelling at the tv for getting it wrong, and Dad had to calm her down.”  Esther frowned and Jason elaborated, “That was about the time we little kiddies were sent to bed, because otherwise, the X-rated stuff would have been happening right in front of us.”  Esther’s mouth rounded into an ‘o’ as she nodded her understanding.  Jason hoped that was the end of it, but he misjudged Esther.  Again.  She looked at the ATV, and then looked at Jason and Lucas with a speculative eye.  Jason shivered, because as hot as Esther was, he liked his working bits where they were, and he didn’t know how possessive Jack was.

However, he was worrying for nothing, as it turned out.  Esther stated, “The test can wait until later, and will take maybe thirty seconds.  We’re going to see if either of your aunts or your cousin, or someone in this house, has a copy of ‘ _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_?’ so we can watch it.  VCR tape or DVD, doesn’t matter.  Jack and the others will be gone for a while, and poor Owen is still waiting for the results of those tests he ran.  I can monitor the incoming leads from my laptop.  We’re going to watch a movie, boys!”

And that was that.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW 

 

 

“So … when was the last time you talked to Quinn?”

Natalie offered her former classmate a small smile as they walked side by side from the Cherokee to Pilar’s clearly-nervous young deputy, answering, “Just this morning, actually.  He called while I was working at the building we’re turning into a shelter for veterans.  Apparently, he’s gotten sick of the big city and returning to his parents’ old place.  I reminded him of just how cold Oklahoma can get in the winter … even though we had a mild winter this year … and he agreed, but reminded me that here, his closest neighbor is a mile away, rather than literally right on top of him.  Couldn’t argue that point.”

Pilar snorted in amusement, and just as Natalie suspected, her next question was, “Is he bringing anyone with him?  I mean, is he involved with anyone right now?”  Natalie couldn’t tell if she was asking out of simple curiosity or if she was hopeful that she would have a chance with their friend.  Quinn was one of the few things/people they had in common while they were growing up.  Natalie didn’t answer at first, her eyes drifting ahead to Jack who was listening intently to something her mother was saying.  She wondered what he and Quinn would make of each other, and then shuddered.  That would be an interesting meeting.

At last, she told Pilar, “He is involved with someone new, has been for about six months or so.  From what Quinn told me, they met at the end of Miracle Day.  I’m sorry, Pilar.”  The other woman was very careful about hiding her response, but Natalie was fairly certain that the new sheriff looked disappointed.  After a moment, she continued, “Quinn didn’t tell me what his name is, just that he would be following Quinn once things were settled in New York City.  And weirdly enough, he didn’t want to talk about this new guy.  He was more interested in hearing about my family and how we survived the Miracle and all the other recent disasters.”

“Well, you _were_ his best friend in high school and college,” Pilar pointed out.  Natalie shrugged.  That was true, but this was the first time Quinn ever held back from telling her about his current.  Pilar added, “Natalie, he may not be ready to talk about the new guy.  It may be too new.  Besides, you get sick of living inside your own headspace after a while.  He’s lived with himself the last few months … he probably was sick of himself, and wanted to hear about you, how the town and the community handled the Atrocity.”

Natalie offered her former classmate a smile at this far more appropriate name for the recent events.  It was an Atrocity … not a Miracle, not a Blessing, but an Atrocity.  She replied as they drew closer to Jack and her parents, the former of whom was putting Nathan at ease in his usual characteristic Jack way, “I hadn’t thought of it that way, Lari, but I see your point.”  Pilar smiled at this reminder of their teenage years, when they were trying out nicknames.  There were few ways that Pilar could be shortened, and ‘Lari’ was the only appealing nickname that anyone could come up with.

“God, I haven’t been called that in years!  That nickname never caught on while I was in the Marines.  And just what is that man doing to my poor deputy?” Pilar added, sounding somewhere between indignant and amused. Natalie snickered a little as she watched Jack flirt outrageously with the young man.  He was flustered now, because of the way Jack was smiling at him, but, she noticed, he was answering the questions Jack posed to him about what he saw. Natalie’s own parents, she noticed, left them alone and were conducting the investigation with the others who were involved in the accident.  There were just a few, really … a truck driver who was transporting a whole passel of cars, and a few others.  However, as was almost always the case, in an endurance test between a little car and a semi, the semi won hands-down.

“He’s distracting your deputy from the horror he saw by giving him something else to focus on.  That’s Jack.  And it’s working … yeah, Nathan’s getting indignant, just as you are, but he’s not shaking as badly and he’s answering Jack’s questions.  Little piece of advice, though.  Don’t assume because he’s a total flirt that he’s an idiot.  He’s playful and he’s mischievous … he’s played some hilarious pranks on my two nephews … but don’t piss him off.  He’s a lot more dangerous than he seems to be right now,” Natalie answered.  She realized that she was more right than she knew when Jack raised his head to look at her, his handsome face appearing very grim indeed.  She asked, “What is it?”

“A problem.  A female-shaped problem.  Carlyon is running the tags now with a contact he has, but according to this handsome young man’s description and the identification left in the car after the accident … well, what’s left of the car, at least.  Natalie, it seems likely that it was Sarah Drummond,” Jack told her.  Natalie blinked at him, first only concentrating on the name:  Sarah?  Esther’s older sister Sarah?  And then it hit her.  Sarah was dead, and now Alys and Melanie were truly orphans.  But that wasn’t the worst part.  Nathan told Pilar that the woman who was killed … oh hell. 

“Sarah’s the walking dead woman.  Oh, God, _Esther_ ,” she breathed and Jack nodded, his usual smile replaced with obvious worry.  Natalie continued, ice filling her veins at the thought of what was now facing her best friend, “Do we know what Sarah was doing here?  I mean, she didn’t fight more than you would expect when she lost custody of the girls?  Was she coming back here to get them?”  Or was there something even more sinister at work?

“I don’t know.  Your dad knows something, though.  I know nearly all of Carlyon’s expressions, including ones you’d not care to hear about, and he knows _something_ ,” Jack replied grimly.  Natalie bit her lip, and Jack put his arm around her shoulder … a protective, comforting gesture, and for once, Natalie wouldn’t deny herself that pleasure.  Nathan was staring at them both with wide eyes, as if trying to figure out what just happened.  His indignation over Jack’s flirting gave way to confusion and the old nervousness.

Pilar, as ever, cut through the bull and observed, “So, the supposed dead woman is the sister of that young blonde girl … I’m guessing that she’s also the mother of those two little girls who have been living with the Hallorans for the last several months?”  Natalie bobbed her head, moving further into Jack’s embrace, because there was something poking at the edges of her mind.  A memory of something she read in the Torchwood files while she was putting things together, before Ailsa was kidnapped.  This wasn’t like the ghost shift that was a prelude to Torchwood One’s fall.  No, this was something else, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“One and the same.  There was the Rift quake … and now this.  Nat, I think I know what’s going on.  It’s happened before, about the same time I arrived in Cardiff the first time,” Jack said quietly.  Ohhhh, Natalie was afraid he was going to say that.  He continued, all trace of playfulness now gone, “We need to get back to the house, and above all, our top priority is now keeping Esther safe.  I think it’s time we got that friend of Nicky’s, too.  We’ll discuss how to deal with her parents along the way, but we’ll need her.”

“You let me worry about Toni Weber,” Pilar interrupted.  Both Natalie and Jack looked at her, and the young sheriff explained with a tiny smile, “After the two mean girls disappeared, I sort of became Toni’s Big Sister.  You tell me what’s going on when the dead walk, and I’ll make sure that Toni becomes part of this investigation.  Deal?”  Natalie nearly giggled when Pilar tried to swallow her tongue … Jack obviously used his most charming smile on her, because the other woman spent several minutes trying to get her mind to reboot.  And then her smile died away.  Sarah was dead and undead and walking.  Esther might be in danger.  There was a lot of work to do.  A female-shaped problem, indeed … and one that would get much bigger!

 

TBC 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?' was a film that was released in 1988, that starred Bob Hoskins and Joanna Cassidy, and featured animated characters such as Betty Boop and others from the Golden Age of movies (and cartoons). It was set in 1947 Los Angeles and was one of my favorite comedic movies for years.


	8. With Power Comes Responsibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we have a conversation between Jack, Natalie, Pilar and Sophia on the way to Toni’s house; Tosh gets a surprise from her young companion; while Rassilon begins putting plans into motion that will forever change his world and the Earth as a whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note ... the next story will be ‘Prime and Prince,’ in which Jack and Rassilon come face to face as father and son (and a few other things will be happening, including the return of another lost Torchwood agent … no, it’s not Gwen). Secondly, the Torchwood/Avengers story will be after ‘Prime and Prince,’ and it’s undergoing a name change. Originally, it was ‘The Two Captains,’ since it focuses mainly on Jack and Steve. However, I came across another story by that name about Jack and Steve, so I need to find a new name. Onward and upward, my dears!

Life had become interesting in the last several months.  Admittedly, that was something of an understatement.  For instance, only this morning, she was working at what would become the veteran’s home in town, getting upset over a perceived slight (and she was still embarrassed by that.  She was a grown woman, for God’s sake!).  Earlier in the afternoon, she and the source of that perceived slight were mending fences beside an actual fence, right before an ‘earthquake’ hit.  And now?  Well, now she was heading for a teenage girl’s house with a high school classmate and sharing what little she knew of a mutual friend’s new significant other with the aforementioned classmate.  She could only shake her head with amusement.  Life was always interesting in Torchwood … and if Jack happened to be in the same zip code, it was even more interesting.  Fortunately, though, he wasn’t the topic of the conversation … especially since he was sitting in the front seat, where he could clearly hear conversations between Pilar and Natalie.  Never mind that he already knew she was wildly attracted to him, that wasn’t the point.  There were some things she didn’t _want_ him to know.

And Pilar … Pilar was Pilar.  In some ways, she was the same girl whom Natalie knew in high school, and in some ways, she was a wholly different creature.  Just as Natalie herself was, the youngest Tregarth daughter realized with a wry twist of her lips.  A few things remained true, however:  they both still loved Quinn, and once more, they were both fascinated by the same man.  Or, if you wanted to get technical … obsessed.  However, Natalie was developing the same distaste her mother had for technicalities.  As Sophia liked to tell Rex when she became annoyed with him, ‘ _technicalities get people killed_.’  There was at least one fatality in the current case … because there was no doubt now in her mind (or the minds of the others) that the ‘earthquake’ fell into Torchwood business.  And that one fatality was very important indeed, because the woman in question was her best friend’s sister.

Jack already said that he would be the one to tell Esther when they returned to the homestead, murmuring that it was the least he owed her.  When pressed on the issue, Jack reminded Natalie’s father that Esther spent two months taking care of him, fretting all the time about the safety of her sister and nieces, thanks to Sarah Drummond’s decision to put herself and the two girls on the waiting list for Category Zero.  Alys and Melanie were safe now, but Sarah was dead, and it was Jack’s responsibility to tell Esther about her sister’s death.  Natalie kept carefully out of that conversation.

At last, Pilar murmured, “So, what’s the story?”  Natalie raised her eyebrows questioningly at her former classmate, who elaborated, “With Captain Harkness there.  I know a little bit, but as Mrs. Whitfield always used to tell us, just enough to get myself into trouble.”  Natalie barely bit back a snort, remembering their senior English teacher’s favorite saying.  Pilar’s dark eyes twinkled with amusement, observing, “Yeah, I thought you’d remember that.  So, I know that he’s not from around here, despite his accent … I know that he’s a helluva lot more resilient than most people are, and I know that he’s much older than he appears.”

“Well, I think you hit all the major points,” Natalie observed.  Pilar glared at her, and Nat added, “Look, there are some stories that aren’t for me to tell.  Anything having to do with Jack tops the list.  That information will be shared when Jack feels ready to share it with you.”  Pilar merely stared at her and Natalie returned the stare coolly, adding, “And yes, before you even think about asking the question … even if it were Quinn asking, the answer would be the same.  Jack keeps his secrets for a reason.  I almost betrayed him once.  I won’t do it again.”

“There is no such thing as ‘almost-betrayal,’ Natalie Sophia.  What happened with the Pharm doesn’t qualify as a betrayal, you figured out a way to warn me.  I’ve told you that before,” Jack said from the front seat.  Pilar blinked in evident astonishment, especially when Natalie stuck her tongue out at the back of Jack’s head.  Her bemusement gave way to amusement when Jack added, “I’ve warned you what I could do with that tongue if you stuck it out again.”  And true to form, that came out sounding sensuous.  Damn the man.  Even his threats were sexy.

“Now, now, children, don’t make me separate you,” Natalie’s mother mock-threatened.  Pilar snickered at that, and Sophia continued, “Honestly, they act just like children sometimes.  Then again, the same is true for the rest of my family, so I suppose I really can’t blame them.”  Pilar’s snickers turned into full-fledged laughter.  Jack tipped his head back until he was looking at Natalie in the rearview mirror, a question in his eyes.  She nodded, ever so slightly, and Jack allowed himself a tiny smile.  To Natalie’s amusement, her mother actually looked a bit worried.

Natalie’s father cleared his throat and said, “So, Sheriff Espinosa, what can we expect when we reach this young lady’s home?  More to the point, how do you plan to handle her parents?”  Oh.  That was a very good question.  She turned her attention to her former classmate, who might have had the classic ‘ _deer in the headlights_ ’ look at such a conversation and being put on the spot in high school … but they weren’t in high school any more.  And after a stint in the Marines, it was _highly_ unlikely that Pilar would have any issues with whatever Nat’s father threw her way.  Rephrase … it was unlikely that Pilar would be unable to handle anything that her father threw her way.  Yes.  That was much better.

“As much as the truth as I can get away with, Mr. Tregarth.  It’s never a good idea to lie to the parents of a teenager, particularly not when you’re the sheriff and it’s an even worse idea when you’re their daughter’s Big Sister.  They need to know that Toni isn’t in trouble and hasn’t done anything wrong, but she may well hold the key to breaking a case,” Pilar answered.  Natalie bobbed her head … not bad.  Telling the truth, and yet not telling the whole truth.  There might have been a time when Natalie believed in the old adage, ‘ _the truth will set you free_ ,’ but after having her world rocked repeatedly in the last six months, she still wasn’t entirely sure of that.  Besides, she had only to think about what she was told about the night the Miracle was conceived.  The truth didn’t set Jack free.  It only hurt him more. 

“That will do, I think … it will do quite nicely,” Natalie’s father answered, inclining his head.  The corners of Pilar’s mouth quirked and she murmured almost under her breath, ‘ _so glad you approve_.’  Nat’s father didn’t hear (or didn’t react), but Natalie certainly did.  She exchanged a small smile with Pilar before settling back into her seat.  Another glance at Jack told her that he heard Pilar’s comment as well, and he was smirking a little.  Natalie’s father sighed, “Stop it, Jack.”  Another glance into the rearview mirror showed a small, mock-pout from the immortal, but his blue eyes were twinkling with laughter.  Natalie just shook her head.  Best to stay out of this conversation.  Evidently, Pilar agreed with her, because she changed the subject to other former classmates she encountered recently.  One thing about Dupres: there was never a shortage of people they went to school with returning to the old stomping grounds.  Natalie’s wry smile turned sour.  With this economy, more and more people were returning to their childhood homes.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but it was yet another strike against the Families … and they just kept giving her more and more reasons to hate them.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

 

He was coming.

Jack was coming.

She didn’t know how she knew that, but she knew it.  There were a lot of things that she knew now, and wasn’t sure how she knew.  And really, Tosh wasn’t sure if it even mattered at this point.  What mattered was that the Gelfth were back and intent on causing trouble … and that Jack was just as determined to stop them.  Of course he was.  He wouldn’t be Jack otherwise.  But what troubled Tosh now was what would happen when she came face to face (sort of) with him.  More to the point, what would she say to him?  She knew Jack well enough to realize that he probably blamed himself for her death, and it wasn’t his fault. 

What she would say to Jack was one issue … what Toni would say was another.  Tosh winced a bit, remembering how she learned that particular lesson.  Earlier, the girl needed to be settled down after the Gelfth took her over.  It was then that Tosh made the mistake of telling Toni about some of the cases she encountered while at Torchwood … including the Pierce case.  She even acknowledged how the three field agents behaved in the wake of the choice Jack found it necessary to make.  One would have expected that Toni would side with Tosh, Owen and Gwen, given her age and the way teenagers tended to see the world.  One would have also been wrong.  Toni stared at her in shock, before exploding in fury … at Tosh.  How could they do that, how could they behave in such a way?  She didn’t think Tosh could be so mean!  If she had a corporeal body, Tosh would have stumbled back in pure shock.  So much for knowing how a teenager’s mind worked.

It took her several minutes to calm Toni down.  Somehow, this sixteen year old child realized immediately what three ‘adults’ failed to comprehend.  Against creatures that could control the very elements, there was very little that _could_ be done.  If Jasmine Pierce was unwilling to go with the Mara, Jack would have stood against them, between the Mara and the little girl.  But she was willing.  And for some reason, those creatures were prepared to murder every human being on the planet to get their Chosen One.  Tosh’s ears (if she had them) would still be ringing from the telling-off she’d received from the young girl.  And now, she was concerned that Toni would bring that less-than-stellar memory up for Jack.  While she misjudged the way the girl would react to Jasmine Pierce’s fate, she didn’t think she misjudged how her companion would react to meeting Jack.  She would likely blurt out something about the little girl, and that was a distraction they didn’t need.

For that reason, she said quietly, “Jack is coming.”  Toni looked up from what she was doing … it looked like she was conducting research on the internet, although Tosh couldn’t tell what kind of research that was … and the tech genius continued, “He’ll be shortly, although I couldn’t tell you exactly when that will be.  If Jack’s driving, it will be very shortly.  They’ll want to talk to you and I need to explain what Jack will be asking.  He doesn’t believe in the afterlife, so convincing him that I’m real will be difficult.”

Actually, given what she knew of him, it would be damn near impossible.  According to Jack, there was nothing after death (something that Owen corroborated and Suzie inferred), nothing aside from a terrible darkness, and yet, here she was.  Or rather, her soul was here.  Mind, she didn’t remember anything she saw (or didn’t see) before her spirit was drawn back here, but nevertheless, she was here now.  Toni observed, “Toshiko, I’ve been dealing with this situation since you first showed up, and I don’t believe it half the time … I don’t care what you dealt with in Torchwood on a regular basis, this is just mind-bending!”  Tosh just barely managed to swallow her laughter, because really, ‘mind-bending’ was a nice way to put it.  Then again, Toni wasn’t inclined to salty language, even if Tosh found herself on the wrong side of her temper.

 After a long moment, Toni asked hesitantly, “Is there anything else I should know about him?”  It never occurred to Tosh to tell the girl about Jack’s immortality.  Perhaps because it wasn’t her story to tell, perhaps it was because the youngster probably would have reacted badly to the revelation that Jack died and returned to life, or perhaps she would have asked Tosh how she first found out about that … and perhaps she didn’t tell the girl because it simply wasn’t any of her business.  Jack kept his secrets for a reason, and she would honor that.  If Toni found out by accident (as Tosh did), that was one thing … but Tosh wouldn’t tell her.

Tosh finally answered, “Nothing that comes immediately to mind.  Although, I should probably warn you that he’s _very_ handsome.”  Toni looked quite unimpressed, and Tosh barely managed to hide a smile.  While it seemed some individuals were impervious to Jack’s (considerable) charm, they were few and far between.  Tosh had little doubt that Toni would fall under Jack’s spell, just as so many others did.  However, she changed the subject, telling the girl about Owen, even though he wasn’t with their captain right now.  It gave her the chance to tell Toni about the man she’d loved, and it gave her time to think.

 Jack was coming.  And she had no idea what to say to him.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Rassilon spent thousands of years asleep, waking only during the Time Scoop disaster, the one that brought most of the incarnations of the Doctor back to Gallifrey and again during the Time War.  However, one thing that always delighted him was the unexpected.  He was a Time Lord, he saw all the timelines … but there was always the possibility of the unexpected.  During his third week at the Colasanto compound, Rassilon found himself in the servants’ quarters during a _Lord of the Rings_ movie marathon.  He learned that they were based on a series of books by an English gentleman named ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ and despite himself, found himself thoroughly enthralled.  Humanity was so young, but they were growing … and the Time Lords, Rassilon knew, became stagnant.

In any event, he watched all three movies with his young counterparts, asking questions while the DVD’s were being changed and absorbing the information.  Yes, he was a Time Lord and yes, he could see all timelines, but what good was that if you didn’t grow and change and learn?  What seemed to be so incredibly insignificant that it wasn’t worth bothering with (such as a Hobbit or the Hobbits in general), became far more important than anyone could have guessed.  Thus, Rassilon wasn’t entirely surprised when the Gelfth made the mistakes of a) taking over Sarah Drummond’s body after she was killed in that accident and b) taking over Toni Weber’s body.  That child was far more than what she appeared, and the Gelfth made the exact same mistake with her that they made with Gwyneth in the nineteenth century.  Honestly.  Did they _never l_ earn?  Evidently not, but that was fine … they’d learn this time.

Whatever pity Rassilon may have felt for his son’s current opponents was gone.  He was in the Time Lock when Nine faced the Gelfth the first time, but that didn’t mean he was unaware of what was going on.  Of course he was aware, just as young Ianto Jones and Gwyneth reborn was aware of what was happening in the outside world.  They weren’t unaware, they simply couldn’t be affected by it … or affect what was happening outside.  And Rassilon wasn’t nearly as helpless as they were, either.  He was aware of everything that was happening to his lost children … to Jack, to Theta-Nine, and to Koschei.  He was aware.  He knew.  And he remembered.

Now, he was watching the current timeline folding with interest.  When the Gelfth exploited the new Rift in Oklahoma, they didn’t come back alone.  Toshiko Sato’s return, however ghostly, wasn’t Rassilon’s doing.  That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t use to his (and his son’s) advantage.  And everything that he needed was right here, on this compound.  A possibility occurred to him, and he frowned, searching the past for what he needed.  Ahh.  Ahh, there was something.  It was a tenuous link, but it was a link all the same.

“You,” a familiar voice said, “are a very devious man.”  Rassilon smiled and turned to face his agent, who just returned from SHIELD’s helicarrier and tormenting Olivia Colasanto.  The other man returned his smile, adding, “Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I’ve learned to interpret your silences, and that one doesn’t bode well for your son’s current antagonist.  You have something in mind, my Lord, something that won’t drive the Gelfth off or keep them from returning, but something that will impact your son’s life.”

“Of course I do,” he returned, “I always have things in mind to impact my son’s life.  I was forced to let him go, for his own safety, but I’m back now.  Search the timelines regarding the Gauntlets that were lost to us for so long … specifically the ones involving my son’s team.”  There was a long silence, and then the other man stared at him with shock … and just a little admiration.  Rassilon merely smiled, saying, “Yes.  The Gauntlet ties all of them to me, as does Jack.  That is how I returned Suzie Costello to life and placed Owen Harper in the other dimension.  It will be how I return Toshiko Sato to her place in this world.”

His agent looked a little worried, and Rassilon continued, “To quote Lady Galadriel, let not your heart be afraid.  I have no intention of harming anyone, including you.  Well, that isn’t entirely accurate.  I do have some rather unpleasant plans for the Gelfth, but only because they have sought twice now to harm a planet under my protection.  Jack and his team will proceed as they must, they will defeat the Gelfth, but when the time is right, I will put my own plans in place.  Everything I have done from the moment of my son’s conception was for his benefit and the benefit of those whom he loved, those for whom he would die.”

There was a long silence as his agent considered this, and then the other man said softly, “I cannot imagine that sort of love.  And it never goes away, this love a parent has for his or her child?”  There was wonderment in his voice, as if an entirely new and unexpected world opened up for him.  And, perhaps it did.  He spent his entire life fearing what came after and trying to avoid it, that he forgot how to live.  Like Rassilon, he forgot how to live, he forgot how to dream and … and breath caught in Rassilon’s throat as the timeline smoothed out in front of him.  Oh.  Oh, of course, he should have seen that before!  However, his agent was still waiting for an answer.  And really, shouldn’t he get that answer?

Rassilon observed, “For me, it has always been the truth.  I long regarded the Time Lords who came after me as much children, but Jack was different.  In so many ways, he was different.  But that wasn’t what you were asking.  And in truth, my love for my son is as strong and as fierce as it was the day he was born, those brief moments when I held him.  Perhaps even more so.”  He fell silent as he thought about the day his son was born, that tiny baby boy held securely in the arms of the Time Lord he trusted above all others.  He thought about the tumultuous months leading up to that day and said slowly, “I never told anyone this, but there were many times when my son’s embryonic intelligence sensed that I was troubled, and he would try to reassure me.  Not even born, and I would sense that ‘papa, all will be well’ impression from him.  Not even born, not fully Time Lord, and he still had that capacity.  Can you imagine that?  My son’s capacity to love began surprising me long before his lung capacity did.”

That surprised a laugh out of his agent, who mused, “I can’t imagine loving anyone that much.”  Rassilon smiled sadly.  No, he didn’t imagine so.  Part of that was his own fault, but … only part of it.  The other man continued, “Perhaps one day, I’ll learn what that means.  To love someone as you love your son.  I know by now that there is truly nothing you wouldn’t do for him, and that it hurts you deeply when he’s in pain.”  Yes.  Yes, both of those points were true.  And it wasn’t simply his son being in pain that hurt him so badly.  It was the knowledge that he couldn’t interfere … that if he interfered and took away his child’s hurt, then Jack would never become the amazing, wonderful man that he was.  He could not interfere, he had to let the timelines play out, and he could only love his son from afar. 

That was then.  This was now.  He searched the timelines to make sure that his intended actions wouldn’t bring disaster upon their heads.  He found none.  To be sure, some events would take place that didn’t occur in the earlier timelines, but that was actually a good thing.  Humanity’s destiny would come to pass, just as it was meant to.  Aloud, he answered, “I hope you do learn that one day.  I hope you learn what it is to love someone that deeply.  Whether it’s a child or a partner, man or woman, it matters not.  All that matters, my dear boy, is that you love.”  There was a long silence as the other man digested that, and then Rassilon continued, “If you would, send Suzie to me when you see her.  I have an assignment for her … no, you may continue to torment Olivia Colasanto.  I wouldn’t dream of taking that from you.”

His agent gave a low laugh, answering, “And I thank you for that, my Lord.  I will send Suzie to you as soon as I find her.  Assuming she isn’t giving Colasanto’s grandson a blow-job.”  Rassilon frowned at him.  Not only was that too much information, it was also crude.  The other man said, rather unapologetically, “Well, it’s true.  And speaking of the Colasantos in general … you do realize that Olivia Colasanto wasn’t the only guilty party in that particular mess, don’t you?”  Rassilon smiled coldly.  Oh yes.  Yes, he was fully cognizant of that fact.

“I do.  As to the other … well.  I’m giving her just enough rope to hang herself.  And she _will_.  Her kind always does,” he answered and had the satisfaction of seeing the other man gulp.  Rassilon actually patted his cheek, which made his agent’s eyes narrow, and said, “Now, if you would please retrieve Suzie for me, I have an assignment for her.  As soon as you’ve done that, you have my leave to return to the helicarrier.  Speaking of which, how do you explain your comings and goings to Colonel Fury?”  Now, his agent smiled, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement.  This, no doubt, would be quite entertaining.

The other man answered, “Oh, it really isn’t that hard.  Colonel Fury doesn’t know I’m there.”  Rassilon allowed his eyebrows to arch upward questioningly and his agent continued, “No one knows I’m there.  No one has ever seen me, save Little Miss Olivia, just as no one ever saw you or Suzie on board the helicarrier.  In my case, it’s because I have a Vortex Manipulator, which I quite like.  Colonel Fury doesn’t know I’m there and no one believes Olivia when she tells them that she sees me.  They adjust her pain meds, and don’t understand why her pain doesn’t decrease and why she still sees me.”

Rassilon frowned, because common sense told him that was a dangerous weakness in the organization’s security which his agent was exploiting.  He thought of his old friend Odin, whose son Loki fell further than anyone dreamed possible … but he couldn’t warn Odin.  Nor could he warn Colonel Fury or his Council that they were dabbling in things that were far more dangerous than anyone imagined.  By the same token, he couldn’t warn Fury that some members of his Council didn’t have the best intentions for this world at heart.  This was another situation where he had to maintain his silence.  As horrible as the coming events were, they were also necessary for humanity’s development.  He didn’t like it, but many things happened that he didn’t like or didn’t approve of. 

His agent was awaiting his response, and so, Rassilon told him, “Then be careful.  Sooner or later, they will become suspicious when Olivia’s hallucinations don’t go away.  I’m taking a terrible risk as it is, tying Olivia’s life force to that of Anwen Williams.”  The other man nodded soberly, understanding what was being said … as well as what wasn’t being said, and as they both well knew, sometimes those were the most important words of all.  Rassilon continued, “After you’ve had your fun with dear Livvy, I have another assignment for you.  The time is coming when I will need to meet with my son.  It will need to be on his territory … and I will need you to scout out the best location for such a meeting.”

“Why?  Not, why do you need to meet with him … that’s rather obvious … but why does it need to be on his territory?  Surely he could take that as a threat and react accordingly?” his agent questioned.  It was a fair point, and one that Rassilon considered many times since he became aware that it was time for him to meet with his son.  The answer he had to offer may not have been the wisest, but it was the most truthful.  And he swore to himself after the last bit of dishonesty that he would be as truthful as he could from that point forward.

“Because he is a protector … I am honoring him by going to him, rather than luring him to me.  Do you understand, dear boy?  I must go to him, to show that I honor and respect him.  In days of old on this world, that was how it was done.  Vassals went to their masters, lords went to their kings.  I must go to my son,” Rassilon answered.  His agent’s eyes narrowed and his mouth worked, lips pulling back from his teeth just a bit as he worked through that in his mind.  When he reached the correct conclusion, he stared at Rassilon in shock.

“You … you’re _humbling_ yourself before him?” he asked and Rassilon inclined his head.  There was another long silence as the other man struggled with himself not to react, to think first.  Rassilon merely waited patiently, before his agent finally blurted out, “But why?  You are a Time Lord, the first of the Time Lords, and while he’s your son, he’s still just a human, little more than an ape!  Why would you humble yourself before a man who should be humbling himself to you?”  And Rassilon smiled.

“Because, dear child,” he answered gently, “With power comes responsibility, and I am still a very powerful being.  Perhaps the most powerful and most dangerous being in the universe, even more so than before because now I seek to avenge hurts done to one whom I love.  Even so, right now, I am but a visitor to this world.  My home is lost to me, and this is not my world.  Not yet.  I do not recognize the governments of this world as being my superior.  However, I do recognize my son’s protection of Earth.  And that? That is why I will humble myself to him by visiting him in his territory, and on his terms.”  His agent closed his mouth with a snap as he thought that through, and Rassilon added softly, “Besides.  Right now, it’s the only way I have to atone for not being there when he needed me most.  Never mind that my interference would have destroyed the timelines, I wasn’t there when my son needed me.  And this is my penance.  Do you understand now?”

“Not really,” the other man acknowledged, “but then again, that doesn’t really matter.  I’ll retrieve Suzie for you, as you requested, and then I will go to that little nothing of a town, my Lord.”  He made a small bow, before leaving the room, and Rassilon was left to his thoughts once more.  _But that is where you are wrong, young one_ , he thought as he stared at a small spot on the wall, thinking about the movies he’d seen.  _One thing I learned from watching Mr. Tolkien’s work is that even the most insignificant of creatures can change the world.  And from what seems like a small, insignificant town, the world can be changed … or saved_.    

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I freely admit it. I was disgusted with Tosh, Owen and Gwen after ‘Small Worlds,’ and I have absolutely no problem at all with saying so. However, Toni’s reaction to their behavior didn’t come from me. It was inspired by my then-sixteen year old co-worker when I explained to her about the episode in question. And I’m sorry to leave you hanging about the conversation between Tosh and Jack, but I need a little more time to think about how it will go. I have two avenues open to me, and I need to work out which would work best for this story.


	9. At a Loss for Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Esther receives disturbing news from Carlyon; Toni’s father makes his voice heard; while Tosh and Jack are reunited. After a fashion. Do you really expect anything else from Torchwood? I would hope not!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I go any further, I wanted to mention the tornadoes that have swept through Oklahoma during the last few weeks. To those in the affected area … you’re in my thoughts and prayers. I’d like to promise that the next chapter(s) will be up in a timely fashion, but I know better than to promise anything of the sort. Things have been exceptionally busy on this end, between work (my contract was extended and I had an interview for a full time job with them), dealing with some twit who hacked my email account, and getting a new laptop and getting things transferred over to the new machine. I’ll just say that I’ll do my best to make sure you won’t have to wait for another two months for the next chapter, especially since we’re heading into the home stretch. On with the story!

Tregarth Homestead

Same Day

 

It took very little time to find her copy of ‘ _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_?’ while the boys washed up.  After she was rescued and Jack made his decision to remain with Torchwood America, he and Rex returned to her apartment in DC to retrieve her belongings.  Esther smiled a little sadly as she carried her DVD downstairs … she remembered how badly she wanted to kiss Jack for that.  Instead, she settled for a fierce hug that nearly broke his ribs.  Or so Rex groused as Jack returned the hug with embrace with interest.  Octavia stepped on his foot for that.

 Looking back now, Esther wasn’t sure why she was so hesitant about kissing Jack … why it had taken him being beaten to death for her to make her move, or even why it took almost losing him for good (because if the Pharma had taken him, Esther was quite certain he would have ended up in the hands of the Families) to take things further.  She was just grateful she finally stopped wasting time.  Jack would live forever.  She wouldn’t.  And if there was one thing that her ‘death’ and her time as a captive taught her … life was entirely too short to waste.

 When she rejoined the boys at the bottom of the stairs, Esther was more than a little surprised when, instead of going into the den (where they usually had movie night, Rift permitting), she found herself escorted into that Holiest of Holies for the Tregarth men:  their so-called ‘man cave.’  She bit back her observation that this was the first time a woman had been allowed into their private room and instead, focused on the room itself.  Esther felt a bit like a teen-aged girl who’d been invited into the private tree-house or clubhouse of a pair of ten year olds. 

However, the room was anything but that of a ten year old boy (or, at least the ten year olds she babysat as a teenager).  There were old arcade games (which Lucas cheerfully informed her that Jack helped to carry down … which, of course, that Esther began thinking of Jack’s muscles flexing under his t-shirt.  Mrrow), a collection of John Deere memorabilia (‘Lucas used to collect those when he was a kid.  So obviously, he’s still collecting them,’ Jason told her, grinning impishly at the insults with which Lucas responded), and a replica of the tall ship, the ‘Constitution.’  It belonged to their late father, and Esther’s throat ached with unshed tears.  She offered the boys a smile before looking around more.

Not surprisingly, there was a microwave off to one side of the room, with an entire basket full of popcorn packets.  Someone with forethought (probably Carlyon) ever so kindly put a large bowl on the other side of the microwave.  Lucas turned a hopeful smile toward her, and Esther realized that she would be asked to make popcorn.  That was fine.  She already intended to do that.  The last time Jason or Lucas made popcorn, it was burned.  Badly.  They thought it was fine, but the rest of the family didn’t consider it fit for human consumption.  Octavia face-palmed and moaned about where she went wrong.  Of course, it was at that point that Rex decided to start an argument by bringing up her brother-in-law (again).  Esther stepped on his foot at that point.  Octavia did nothing wrong … she had no way of knowing that her brother-in-law was working for the Families, so she didn’t keep the identity of her brother-in-law a secret.

Esther honestly wasn’t sure what Rex was so upset about.  Jack was the one who was hurt most out of their new team, and he wasn’t angry or even upset with Octavia.  For that matter, even his reprimand to Esther herself when they all were safe was actually pretty gentle.  Maybe it would have been a different story if it was Octavia’s husband who was the assassin, but he wasn’t.  He was a cop who died saving others.  Honestly, she had far more sympathy for Octavia on this subject than she did for Rex.  But that was between them, and they would either work it out or they didn’t.  It was between them.  Esther handed the movie off to Jason as they reached the ‘man-cave’ (honestly, that was _such_ a silly name for a room), allowing him to set it up.  She’d seen it nearly thirty times and could practically recite the lines herself. 

Besides, she needed to focus on the popcorn.  Maybe if Jason noticed that she checked the seconds between pops, he’d learn how to make it properly himself.  Esther smirked to herself.  Not real likely, as Jason’s attention was likely to be on the movie, but it was a nice thought.  A quick glance into the refrigerator that sat on the other side of the microwave revealed that yes, there was cold soda in there, not just cold beer.  Thank God.  She snagged three cans, lobbing two of them to her companions before returning her attention to the popping popcorn.  There was soft swearing behind her and the distinct sound of spraying.  Ooops.  Someone didn’t let the soda settle before opening it.

Jason snickered as his younger brother tore out of the room, “He knows better than that.  At least you’re down here, instead of upstairs in the bunkhouse with Jack.”  Esther glanced over her shoulder and smirked at her companion, who reddened.  Esther didn’t know why.  She didn’t say anything.  Jason continued, “So, you and Nat … you’re good now?”  Good now … oh.  _Oh_.  So many things happened since this morning and Nat’s blow-up at Jack, Esther lost track of what he was talking about.  She had to stop and think about her answer.  On the face of it, things were fine, because it was Jack whom Natalie hurt … and yet … and yet, she wasn’t sure.  While Nat didn’t appreciate some of the comments made in the past, this time … it was different.

“I don’t know.  I may need to talk to her when this is all over.  I just … technically, it isn’t any of my business, but at the same time …” Esther finally answered.  This was uncharted territory for her, in so many ways.  She’d dated in the past, of course … had friends who didn’t react too well to being in the same general area … but this was different.  According to Owen, Nat wasn’t entirely herself at the time … something else that made Esther uncomfortable.  They were all as careful as possible with Rift raff (as Lucas had taken to calling it), but it wasn’t Rift-raff that altered Natalie’s personality (however briefly), that altered her brain waves.  Maybe that was the real problem, Esther thought, there’s no way to guard against what happened to Natalie.  Esther said softly, “We need to talk, just the two of us, get things settled.”

Jason nodded before returning his attention back to the DVD player.  Esther was pleased to note the utter lack of burned popcorn as she pulled the bag from the microwave (to say nothing of the absence of the smell of burned popcorn).  As Lucas returned, Jason’s next question was with regards to Torchwood, observing, “If that earthquake this morning was Rift-related, which it probably was, what do you think came through?”  Esther shrugged, careful to keep the actual motion to a minimum.  The last thing she wanted to do was to be cleaning up the popcorn from the rug.  That would be a mess and a half.

“It’s hard to say.  I’m still making my way through the old archives that Carlyon copied before he left Cardiff, all those years ago.  My first instinct is to say that it was big … extremely big.  Not quite as big as Abaddon, of course, but still big,” Esther replied as she settled the bowl of popcorn down on the end table, right between the brothers’ respective sets of feet.  She hit each boy with a Glare, adding, “And don’t even think about eating that until I get some bowls.”  The brothers responded with pouts and Esther retorted, “Don’t try that with me, either.  Your cousin is a hundred times better at it.”  She turned away with a swish of her hair as the brothers looked at each in chagrin, smiling to herself as she heard Lucas muttering under his breath about her spoiling all of his fun.  Honestly.  They were just overgrown little kids.  On her way back to the stand with the microwave, she added, “Which reminds me.  Speaking of Abaddon, how did that go with you two?”

She meant, of course, a briefing that Owen conducted about why opening the Rift was a Bad Thing.  It was something they did while Jack was in Nevada with Sophia, Natalie and Ailsa.  There were actually several, because everyone’s schedule was different … not unlike their physicals.  Jason answered a bit reluctantly, “Ours was delayed until everyone came back and Mom and Dree left for Scotland.  It went a bit as you’d expect … Jack tried to call it on account of darkness a few times, but Owen reminded him that people died when the Rift was open and Abaddon was released.”  Esther flinched at the reminder.  Her briefing went differently.  She already learned that it was far wiser to listen to Jack than to ignore what he was telling you.  Of course, Jack wasn’t there at her briefing.  That probably made a difference as well.

“Yeah, and the movie’s starting, so put a cork in it, goof-ball.  Ah, Esther, you goddess among women.  If I didn’t like my working parts where they were, I might be tempted to make a move on you,” Lucas said as she handed out the bowls.  She thought briefly about pointing out that Jack would likely invite him to join in, but opted not to.  Both boys got a bit antsy when she (or Jack) said things like that.  She took her place between the two boys and began to lose herself in the movie, which she found (much to her delight) amused her as much now as it did when she was a little girl.  So, of course, it couldn’t last.

Her cell began to ring insistently and the ringtone informed her that it was Carlyon on the other end of the line.  Esther grimaced a little, because this was a caller she wouldn’t dream of ignoring.  She rose to her feet and headed away from the TV, so she didn’t disturb the boys, saying softly into the receiver, “What can I do for you, Carlyon?”  He’d gone with his wife, Jack, Nat, and Sheriff Espinosa, and she wasn’t anticipating hearing from any of them for a while.

There was a quiet sigh on the other end of the line, but it wasn’t until Carlyon said in an impossibly gentle voice, “Esther, my dear, you should sit down … there’s something you must know, and something that will be hard for you to hear.”  Esther swallowed hard and slowly lowered herself, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.  She learned the hard way that when Carlyon Tregarth told her that she should sit down, he meant it.  That lesson was true once more as he imparted what he discovered at the scene of the accident.

 

 

 

 

TWTWTWTWTTWTW

 

 

 

 

He grew up loving movies.  When he was a boy, Dupres was a lot smaller than it was now.  In fact, one of the few attractions in town was a drive-in theatre that his parents would take him to once a week.  There was a time when he briefly entertained the idea of being an actor, but life didn’t quite work out that way.  But as the years went by, his love for movies didn’t lessen.  Most of the time, if they had the money now, they would go to the cinema in town … the drive-in theatre was closed years earlier.  That closure nearly broke his heart, but he had to admit that it was long past time … by the time it closed, it was running X-rated movies.  Talk about ruining his childhood!

In more recent years, one of Gideon Weber’s favorite movies was _The Mummy Returns_.   Not just because Rachel Weisz and Patricia Velazquez were lookers (although they were … especially Velazquez.  Damn, that woman was gorgeous), but because of a particular scene near the end of the movie when Rick O’Connell told his little boy that it wasn’t easy to be a dad (actually, he didn’t really say the words … more like, wheezed them out).  Gideon laughed aloud at that the first time they watched it, much to his wife’s amusement (and he didn’t care what she said … he might have watched it for Anck-su-namun and Evy, but she watched it for Ardeth).  O’Connell was right … being a dad, being a parent, wasn’t easy at all, Gideon found while he and his wife were raising their daughter.  And some days, it was less easy than others.

Ordinarily, Toni … or Antoinette, as her mother preferred to call her … was generally a gentle, soft-spoken girl:  honest and hard-working in school.  She was more Gideon’s daughter in that respect than Sabine’s … her good grades were the result of hard work, rather than any great intelligence.  And up until she drifted into the sphere of those two girls, Tegan and Annis, the elder Webers never had major issues with her.  Oh, she misbehaved sometimes, as children do, but there was never anything big.  That all changed a few months earlier, when the aforementioned girls disappeared.

More to the point, Toni herself changed.  She became quieter, more withdrawn, and only during or after her visits with the sheriff did she show signs of the girl she was.  Unfortunately, Sabine didn’t help with her dismissal of Toni’s growing feelings for Nicky.  While Gideon well knew that a teenager’s feelings changed often, he also knew that sometimes, childhood (or high school) sweethearts could become lovers and even spouses; so dismissing their daughter’s emotions would only lead to her shutting them out even more.

That only got worse in the last few days.  Something was wrong with his little girl, and Gideon had no idea of what that something was.  But his instincts told him that either he was about to find out … or get more bad news … when the sheriff’s Cherokee pulled up in front of the Weber split-level ranch home and two members of the Tregarth family spilled out of the Jeep, along with the sheriff herself and someone Gideon never met before.  He honestly didn’t have an opinion about the Tregarth family.  They seemed like decent enough people, and he certainly couldn’t deny what they did for the community as a whole during the mess with the kids and later with the Miracle.  They were a bit on the strange side, but aside from that, they were decent.  Even so, it was more than a little disconcerting to have Sheriff Espinosa pulling into his driveway with the Tregarths in tow.

So was a tall, dark-haired man whom even the one-hundred-fifty percent straight Gideon had to admit was quite handsome.  This, no doubt, was the Captain Jack Harkness who made such an impact at the Christmas dance a few months earlier.  They were in the way Gideon heard it, Will Delacourt was just about turning purple when Captain Harkness danced with Will’s former lady friend, Priscilla Tregarth.  Not that Gideon had much use for Will under any circumstances … but after hearing the story behind his break-up with Priscilla Tregarth, he regarded the other man as even more useless.  Gideon returned his attention to the small group getting out of the car.  So, it was Sheriff Espinosa, Captain Harkness, along with two Tregarth females.  Curiouser and curiouser.  That, of course, was when he noticed that one Tregarth was Natalie … not exactly what he would have expected, although even as a teenager, Nat was capable of surprising him.  She and Pilar … Lari … were a few years behind him in high school, as was Quinn.  Neither girl was part of his circle, as such, but he was aware of them.  Of course he was.  Dupres was a small town, after all.

He was aware enough not to be surprised when Pilar left town to join the Marines … aware enough not to be surprised when Natalie turned out to be far more dangerous than anyone could have guessed.  Whether it was protecting her daughter during Miracle Day or avenging her oldest sister Priscilla (Gideon nearly laughed himself into a coma when he heard what Natalie did to that idiot Will.  She must have learned that trick from Quinn), it didn’t matter.  What mattered right now was why she, her parents (he could see Carlyon Tregarth in the front seat, on the phone), Captain Harkness, and Pilar were here.  The dark-haired sheriff nodded to him, saying, “Hi, Gideon.  Is Toni available to talk to us?”  Oh hell.  He was afraid she would ask him that.

However, he inclined his head, answering, “She is.  Can I ask what this is about?”  Gideon watched the posture of his visitors very carefully, trying to learn as much as he could from what was unsaid.  Natalie, as ever, fidgeted when she was uncomfortable.  Oh, it wasn’t the same way his daughter fidgeted …. with Natalie, it was changing her position.  First her hands were on her hips, then they were folded over her chest … first most of her weight settled on one leg, and then the other.  He might not have known her as well as Quinn did … but he did know that about her.

Her mother Sophia was serene … running her hand up and down her daughter’s back ever so often, trying to soothe the younger woman’s nerves.  Sophia Tregarth was Natalie’s mother.  Even now, months after that particular revelation, Gideon had a hard time wrapping his mind around it.  He could only imagine how Natalie must have taken it.  Her grandmother was actually her mother and she looked like she was about the same age as Natalie.  On the other hand, it couldn’t be easy for Octavia or Priscilla to see this young woman as their mother.

Sheriff Espinosa was no different than the times she picked up Toni for what she called their rounds together:  relaxed and alert, her expression a pleasant mask.  It occurred to him that out of them all, he knew her the best, and he barely knew her.  Nice, he thought, real nice.  He’d told Toni about having good neighbors, but he hadn’t been a good neighbor since they moved here.  Maybe it was time to change that.  Lord knew that enough things were changing around here.  And that brought him to the final member of the group … Captain Jack Harkness.

He knew from Charles Havelock, an occasional drinking buddy, that Captain Harkness was a lot more dangerous than his demeanor would have you believe.  Looking at the man now, he could believe that.  His expression was playful, mischievous, even flirtatious … but if you looked at the way he carried himself, if you looked into his eyes, then you’d see just how stupid it would be to underestimate this man.  Gideon had his share of faults, but stupidity didn’t top that list.  Even before the sheriff answered his question, Gideon knew what his own answer had to be.  But when Sheriff Espinosa told him, “We think that some bad types are trying to use Toni.  Gideon.  You know she’s an unusual girl, you know that she knows things that a girl her age shouldn’t know,” any objections Gideon might have had were wiped away.

Because she was right.  His baby girl was unusual, she was special.  He’d known about that for months, but hoped that he was wrong.  He’d hoped that … well, it wasn’t important what he’d hoped.  He had to focus on what the truth was.  Which was why he said now, “I know.  And yes.  Yes, you can talk to Toni.  C’mon in.”  He paused, noticing that Carlyon was still inside the Cherokee and asked, “What about Mr. Tregarth?  Will he be joining us?”  He was still inside the Jeep and he was still on the phone.  A look passed between the three people who weren’t the sheriff and Gideon had the sudden sense that he’d dropped into the Twilight Zone.

“My father is … handling a particularly sensitive call.  He’ll join us when he’s able, Gid,” Natalie responded, speaking for the first time since the beginning of the conversation.  Curiously, that put him at ease, hearing that old nickname.  He gestured for them to follow him inside the house.  Gideon thought briefly about what he would tell Sabine, who continued to insist that her dalliance with those two girls hadn’t changed Toni, but decided to worry about that later.  Right now, his little girl’s well-being was the most important thing.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTW

 

 

“He’s here.”

Well, that was a _bit_ on the dramatic side.  Or, it would have been if Toshiko tended toward melodrama.  Instead, it was matter of fact, with only the tiniest hitch in Tosh’s voice.  Toni looked up from the book she was reading, and her own heart almost stopped at the look on her unexpected friend’s face.  Tosh smiled, a smile that lit up her whole face and had all of her heart in it, repeating, “He’s here.  Jack’s here.  I don’t know how I know it, but he’s here.”  Toni bit her lip, because things were moving far faster than she was now comfortable with.

It was about to get worse.  Her father called, “Antoinette … we have guests.”  Tosh offered her a gentle, supportive smile, and Toni barely managed to smile in return.  She opened the door of her room, feeling as if she was going to her own execution.  The girl was only slightly reassured by her father’s expression.  He didn’t look angry … more like worried.  That was bad enough.  He’d been so worried about her since the mess with Tegan and Annis, and disappointment went hand-in-hand with worry.  She’d never wanted to see that look in her father’s eyes again.  Toni was used to disappointing her mother … disappointing her father hurt far more.

And then she saw Sheriff Pilar just beyond her father.  The sheriff smiled at her warmly, saying, “Hi, Toni.  We need to talk to you about what you told Nicky.”  Toni stole a glance at her father.  His expression hadn’t changed at all.  That was … well.  She didn’t know what to think about that.  Sheriff Pilar continued, “You know the Tregarth ladies:  Sophia and Natalie.”  The teen nodded respectfully to the two women.  This was the first time she’d ever actually seen Sophia Tregarth.  Oh, she heard about her in town, especially after her granddaughter Ailsa was kidnapped, but that was the funny thing.  She didn’t look like any grandmother Toni’d ever seen.

And Miss Natalie … well, she was Miss Natalie.  She was always kind to Toni when they encountered each other in town, although sometimes distracted by trying to keep up with her little girl Ailsa.  Thus, it was the tall, dark-haired man just past Sheriff Pilar who captured and held Toni’s attention.  While he wasn’t Nicky, he was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen.  And Toni’d never thought that she’d apply this term to any man, but she would even venture to say that he was beautiful.  To her right, she heard Tosh said, sounding more than a little smug, “That is Jack.”

At the same time, Sheriff Pilar observed, “And this gentleman is Captain Jack Harkness, an associate of theirs.  Captain, this is Antoinette Weber, or Toni, as she prefers to be called.”  A warm smile lit his handsome face, and Toni found herself blushing as she shook the proffered hand … which absolutely engulfed her own.  Sheriff Pilar added, “And don’t complain, Jack, I was calling you a gentleman out of respect.”  That prompted a laugh from both Mrs. and Miss Tregarth, and the captain’s smile broadened further.  Toni could hear Tosh laughing softly from beside her.  So, of course, that was when she made a world-class idiot out of herself.

With Tosh’s laughter ringing in her ears, she blurted out, “Tosh didn’t mention how handsome you were.”  Actually, she probably did, but Toni wasn’t paying attention at the time.  And her words wiped that smile immediately from the captain’s face.  She shuddered, feeling the change in the room.  It was as if everything was sucked from the room … warmth, air, everything.  And the worst part was the captain’s expression.  There was actually hurt in those amazing blue eyes.  Toni didn’t need Tosh’s indignant cursing to tell her that she just screwed up badly.

Captain Harkness said in a very quiet, terrifyingly even voice, “How do you know about Toshiko?  Did you know her before she was killed?”  Toni had the distinct impression that if Tosh had a corporeal body, she would have been face-palming right about then.  The captain swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and then when he opened them, his entire focus was on her.  It occurred to Toni that whoever came up with Ms. Ramsey’s screensaver, ‘the last thing you want is my complete and undivided attention’ must have known Captain Harkness.  He said in a very gentle voice, “I’m not angry, Toni.  I know I must have frightened you just now, but I’m not angry with you.  I just need to know how you even knew Tosh.”

Toni licked her lips and Tosh said softly, “We need to be very careful from here on out, Toni.  Tell him the truth.  Don’t try to lie to him, he’ll know it, and you’ll only upset him further.  Don’t apologize, either.  He’s not interested in how sorry you are.  Just tell him what’s happened.  And when you’re done, I’ll tell you something to tell him, something that’ll convince him that I’m really here.  Do **not** deviate in _any_ way from what I tell you … this is very important, Toni.  Promise me that you’ll do _exactly_ what I tell you to do.”

It really made Toni nervous when Tosh talked like that, but she inclined her head.  Raising her eyes to meet the captain’s, she did exactly what Tosh advised her to do.  She told him everything, keeping her eyes on his at all times.  She told him about what happened the night Tegan and Annis disappeared … and about the earthquake this morning … about the Gelfth (something that made him pale and his eyes narrow, but he didn’t interrupt) … and finally about Tosh.  His lips pursed at that, and Toni remembered what Tosh told her.  But it was only at the end that Toni balked.  As Captain Harkness turned to look at Mrs. Tregarth, who put her hand on his forearm, Toni blurted out (again), “You wanted me to say what?  Tosh, that doesn’t even make any sense!”  She was painfully aware of how everyone was looking at her (everyone, in this case, meaning her father), but wouldn’t take the words back, even if she could have.

“Do it!  It’s the only way he’ll believe you!  Toni, please … you’ve trusted me this far.  I need you to keep trusting me.  Say it,” Tosh all but begged.  For a brief moment, Toni thought of a movie she watched when she was twelve or so, a movie with that man who died around the same time as Michael Jackson, Patrick something or other.   (It would take several hours, but eventually, she would remember what it was called … appropriately enough, it was titled, ‘ _Ghost_ ’).  It had Whoopi Goldberg in it, and during a key scene, she demanded to know what ‘ditto’ meant.  That was how Toni felt right now.  But she had the sense that Captain Harkness was turning away from her, and that her time was running out for him to believe them.

Thus, she said, “Don’t ask me to explain what she means by this, but she said to tell you, _‘baby, you’re good_.’  And something about not being afraid of danger.”  Captain Harkness literally froze in place.  But now, rather than forbidding, his expression was almost hopeful.  Afraid and hopeful at the same time.  It wasn’t quite the same as his expression a few minutes earlier, but it was enough of a thawing to make her relax, just a little bit.

Tosh whispered new directions to her, and growing more confident with the change in the captain’s demeanor, Toni went on, “She wants you to know that you aren’t responsible for her death, and while she wasn’t happy to die, at least she was lucky enough to die in the arms of someone whom she loved and who loved her.  She also said to tell you that if she even thinks you blame yourself for her death, she’ll figure out a way to make herself and kick your arse clear into the next decade.  Sorry, Daddy.  But that’s what she said, and she said that you know if anyone could figure out a way to do it, Captain, it would be her.”

A wild laugh seemed to be torn from the captain’s throat as he replied, “She would, too.  She … she’s here, then?  With you?”  Toni nodded, now breathing a little easier.  There was still the matter of her parents, but for some reason, the girl wasn’t especially worried.  She’d trusted Tosh this far, and the ghost promised her that she wouldn’t abandon Toni.  The Captain went on, looking around, “Where is she?  I’m not stepping on her, am I?”  He sounded so young in that moment, younger than Toni, and so very earnest, that she wanted to laugh.  But she didn’t.  Her rational mind was telling her that there was no way it should be this easy, but the strongest part of her didn’t care.  She wasn’t alone anymore, and that was all that mattered.

“She’s … well, she’s right in front of you.  Right now, she’s reaching up, like she would touch your cheek if she could.  She’s … she’s smiling, and she has tears in her eyes.  I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right.  She was smiling when she moved toward you, and she had tears in her eyes then.  She’s probably still close to crying.  I … while we were waiting, she told me about you and about Owen,” Toni replied.  The captain closed his eyes briefly, and a tear rolled down his cheek.  Once again, Tosh tried to brush it away … once again, she failed, and her frustration could be seen in her face.

When the captain opened his eyes once again, there was no grief, no sadness … only determination.  He looked first at Toni, and then at her father, and then finally at the Sheriff.  He said in a voice that informed everyone present that this would happen, and he wasn’t entirely picky about how they _made_ it happen, “Toni is coming back with us to the homestead.  Mr. Weber.  You’re more than welcome to join us … in fact, I think Toni would be more comfortable if you did.  But she’s been spending time with Toshiko since the Gelfth’s arrival awoke Tosh.  We’ll need her help if we want to deal with them.”

“My daughter is going nowhere without me,” Toni’s father responded, putting a protective arm around her shoulders, something that made the girl straighten up, ever so slightly.  There was a pause, and then he continued, sounding about as bewildered as Toni was still feeling, “And just who in the Hell are you people?  You talk about these things, these Gelfth, as though they’re aliens or something.  Who are you?”  A smile quirked the corners of the captain’s mouth, and it was all Toni could do to keep from laughing when he and Tosh said the exact same thing at the exact same moment.

“We’re Torchwood.”

 

 

TBC


	10. No More Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas and Jason cope when Esther gets bad news from Carlyon; Tosh soaks up being with Jack again (even if she does need to use Toni as a translator at first); and Owen gets a surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first things first … I went to see Pacific Rim last Saturday. Burn Gorman’s character Dr. Hermann Gottlieb was utterly adorable (I think the proper fandom term is ‘adorkable,’ but whatever). At first, he reminded me a lot of Owen, because he had the same insistence on being called ‘Doctor,’ but the resemblance ended there. Dr. Gottlieb was fastidious, fussy and I absolutely adored him. Idris Elba was a bad-ass (of course). The movie itself was a lot of fun … didn’t claim to be anything other than what it was: a summer, popcorn movie. The music was awesome … then again, it’s by the same composer who did the score for the first Iron Man movie. Now, back to the series, the story and the chapter. After much thought, I’ve decided to go back to the original title for the Torchwood/Avengers crossover-The Two Captains. The remaining stories in Birthright will also be rearranged. The remaining stories are: Prime and Prince; The Two Captains: Brothers in Time; Dite’s Favor; Master of the Game; and the still-untitled final story which sets up the next series. Also, when I finish that last story, Birthright will be an open sandbox, but I’ll explain more when I get there.

Tregarth Homestead

(In the ‘Man-Cave’)

 

One of these days, he would learn to worry when anyone’s cell phone rang and Grandfather was on the end.  One of these days.  Really.  He _would_.  Lucas would remember later that Esther’s laughter was ringing out as often as his own snickers or Jason’s howls of amusement, despite the fact that she was paying as much attention to her laptop as she was to the movie.  For that time, they weren’t Torchwood operatives, but just three ordinary young people.  They were two brothers and their insanely hot friend who was screwing another insanely hot friend (hey, Lucas was a hundred fifty percent straight, thank you very much, but even he had to admit that Jack was … well).

And then, Esther’s cell phone rang.  She made a small face of annoyance, but rose to her feet and walked away to avoid disturbing them and their enjoyment of the movie.  It wasn’t necessary, but in the part of Lucas’ mind that wasn’t focused on the movie appreciated her consideration.  People who talked through movies annoyed the hell out of him.  Whispering to explain a plot point was one thing, but talking through and over movies?  Seriously _not_ cool.

He was always amused when people assumed because he was the medic, he was the empathetic one.  The truth was, that was Jason.  Thus, it was Jason who heard Esther’s broken, ‘oh,’ Jason who looked over to see their insanely hot friend huddled in on herself, Jason who put the movie on ‘pause’ and went over to check on her.  Lucas followed a little more slowly … and then his medic training kicked in.  Even before he reached the trembling woman, he could tell that she was going into shock.  The younger Martinelli brother snapped as Jason reached out to take the phone from Esther, “That can wait!  Get a blanket, now!”  Jason, to his credit, didn’t argue … just wheeled around and grabbed an afghan from the back of the sofa where they were just sitting.  It was Lucas who pulled the cell from her nerveless fingers and set it to one side with infinite gentleness before ensuring that her clothes were loose.  As it was, she was dangerously close to hyperventilating.

“She’s going into shock?” Jason inquired as he eased the afghan around Esther’s slim shoulders and Lucas nodded tersely, mentally running through his checklist for people going into shock.  Yes, the checklist was for people whose shock was caused by physical injuries, but Lucas tended to use it for situations like this as well.  His experience taught him that sometimes, just the idea that someone was physically doing something helped people.  A placebo?  Maybe.  But it worked, and Lucas believed in doing what worked.  So.  No food or drink … she didn’t bring anything with her when she walked away from the movie, so that wasn’t an issue.  She hadn’t been injured, but just to be safe … he motioned to his brother to help him ease Esther into a reclining position, gently stroking her hair away from her forehead at the same time.  Jason picked up the cell and said, “This is Jason, what’s going on, why’s Esther going into shock?”

Lucas didn’t pay attention to his brother’s side of the conversation.  In truth, he was more than a little surprised there was even someone on the other end of the line.  Besides, his real concern right now was with his patient.  Looking around, he spotted something that was one of Ailsa’s favorite toys when she was very little (as in, a baby) … the giant pillow/bean bag that she loved jumping into … or rather, falling into while she was learning to walk.  It wasn’t quite twelve inches, but it would do nicely in a pinch.  He snagged it and eased Esther’s feet onto the monster pillow, making sure to keep his touch impersonal.  Jason hissed, “Grandfather, you can chew me out for this later, but next time Jack tells you to let him do something, let him do it!  Poor Esther is in shock, and Lucas is having to take care of her!”

The young medic blinked, thoroughly nonplussed to hear his gentle older brother tearing into their grandfather in such a way.  Jason ended the call and leaned over to whisper, “That call they got?  The one that had the sheriff leaving with Mama Sophia, Grandfather, Natalie and Jack?  It was an accident.  Esther’s sister Sarah was killed.  Evidently, Jack wanted to tell Esther, but Grandfather overrode him, since it was his ‘responsibility.’  How is she?”  Lucas didn’t bother to ask his brother why he was whispering.  Esther was only just now coming out of her shock … her eyes were focusing, and oh, _hell_.  Those big brown eyes of hers were filling up with tears, and just like his father before him, Lucas absolutely hated it when women cried.

“It wasn’t a dream, was it?” Esther asked hoarsely and Lucas didn’t even bother asking what she meant.  He shook his head sadly as he and Jason helped her to sit upright once more (taking it very slowly, because he really didn’t want to make her dizzy all over again).  Esther lowered her head, shoulders trembling as she tried to fight back her tears, and whispered, “I … I don’t feel anything?  Why don’t I feel anything, what’s wrong with me?  She was my sister, I loved her, why don’t I feel anything?”

“You’re numb.  It’s normal, Esther,” Jason soothed, his glance telling Lucas that his older brother had this.  Lucas wasn’t sure if he wanted to know how many young soldiers his brother had talked through traumatizing events … talked to them until the professionals could take care of the kids.  It was enough for him to know that Jason could handle this.  The youngest Martinelli pulled back, allowing his brother to work, and Esther’s cell bleeped, indicating a text.  It was, he wasn’t entirely surprised to find, from Jack and read, ‘ _be back at the house soon.  Let me take care of you.  CJH_.’  Lucas smiled sadly as he gently placed the phone back in Esther’s hands.  For now, it was Jason’s job to take care of Esther … Lucas had to check in with Owen and let him know what was going on.  He had a feeling that his grandparents and Jack would want all hands on deck when they returned.

He was more right than he knew.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

In a way, Tosh was glad she was dead … if she was alive, her legs would be shaking too badly for her to even move.  Not that it was necessary right now, since they were all in the car.  Or rather, they were all in the Sheriff’s Jeep.  Toni’s father left a note for her mother (it seemed that she was still at work, and why wasn’t he at work?  Never mind, she would worry about that later).  Unfortunately, that meant that they were all subjected to the domestics of the Tregarth family, who made up a significant portion of the new Torchwood team.  From what Tosh was able to put together during the next few minutes, Jack was still furious with the figurehead of Torchwood America (or Torchwood South, as it was also called) … it seemed that he made a call that Jack believed he should have handled, and now a member of the team was suffering from a terrible emotional shock.  Oh yes, Tosh could recognize the signs of Jack’s anger.  Even so, she also noticed that he pushed it aside because there was a job to do. 

As Sheriff Espinosa drove back to the Tregarth home, Tosh focused her attention on her captain, still unable to believe that she was really seeing him.  He looked a little more worn than she remembered and there were more shadows in his eyes.  Or maybe the shadows were always there, and she was just now seeing them?  That could also be the case.  And, for his own part, Jack quietly quizzed Toni about Tosh … where she was with them in the car (practically sitting in Toni’s lap, for all intents and purposes), what she told Toni about Torchwood.   Things of that nature, without getting classified or fearing that he would use Retcon on her.

And Toni’s father listened intently … to Jack’s questions, to Toni’s answers, and to Jack’s follow-up remarks.  He seemed uncomfortable with Jack (more to the point, with Jack’s flirting), but neither Jack nor Tosh were particularly surprised by that.  Jack was, however, somewhat surprised when the sheriff revealed that there was third bench that folded out from the floor of the Cherokee.  It seemed that it didn’t come standard, and Sheriff Espinosa revealed that it was, indeed, a custom job … done by a fellow Marine.  _Keeping it in the family_ , she said with a smile that could have rivaled Jack’s in radiance.  _A female version of Jack Harkness_ , Tosh caught herself thinking, _what a terrifying notion.  Terrifying **and** reassuring_.

Some of the time, she listened to the bickering (between Carlyon and Sophia Tregarth) and the bantering (between Natalie Tregarth and Sheriff Espinosa) … the rest of the time, she drank in the sight of Jack and answered the questions he posed to her through Toni.  She didn’t remember what she saw or didn’t see while she was dead … the last thing she remembered was dying in Jack’s arms.  There was a flash of pain in his eyes, but thankfully, he didn’t apologize or say anything about being responsible for her death.  Good.  If he did, she would have gotten someone to hit him, assuming she couldn’t take on corporeal form long enough to do so.

She learned that Torchwood South (aka Torchwood America, aka Torchwood Oklahoma) was formed several months earlier, not long after the end of the Miracle.  Toni already told her some of what was going on, but Jack filled in the blanks.  He was the field team leader, while Carlyon Tregarth was the figurehead, dealing with UNIT and other such things.  She also learned that Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, the old lion who helped Jack negotiate the terms of her release from UNIT, died recently … not long after the Miracle ended.  Jack wasn’t there when he died, but he visited him a short time before the other man’s death.

Tosh grieved for that singular old gentleman … more, she grieved for a world that would probably never know about what he’d done for it.  But the Brigadier more than earned his rest, and Tosh would cherish the memories she had of him.  She also learned that Ianto was indeed dead, something she gleaned from her conversations with Toni … but Jack confirmed.  And that flash of pain was back in his eyes.  Tosh wished she could reach over and take his hand, because Toni was entirely too intimidated by him.  And, as she noted earlier, the girl’s father wasn’t particularly comfortable with Jack.

There was good news, however.  Owen was back.  He was back and one hundred percent alive.  Jack wasn’t entirely sure how that happened, but Owen was taken from the nuclear plant and placed in another dimension.  Jack’s grin promised a story to follow when Toni wasn’t around to listen.  Again, it was something that Toni told her or inferred, but Jack provided some desperately needed confirmation.  And Tosh was overjoyed to realize that he’d missed her.  ‘ _I came back for you … for all of you_ ,’ he’d said, and he meant it.  He’d loved them all, he still loved them, and Tosh loved him. 

Owen, she learned, was slowly edging into a relationship with Natalie Tregarth’s niece, Adriane.  Evidently, he’d been on his own for four years in that other dimension.  After an initial sting, Tosh realized that she was glad for Owen.  She loved him, but she could never be with him now.  She loved him and more than anything, she wanted him to be happy.  Tosh considered the logistics of giving Adriane a shovel talk, but dismissed it for now, especially after she’d learned Jack did it for her.  She just wished she could have been there when Owen found out about that particular conversation … or, at least, seen his expression.

So many things changed since her death.  She realized while Jack told her about the destruction of the Hub (and by her ancestors, if Tosh ever got her hands on the woman who put that bomb inside Jack, that bitch would rue the day she even heard of Torchwood) that while Tosh’s crypt was spared, Gray’s was not.  Tosh couldn’t regret that … she could only regret that it hurt Jack.  It meant that he would have no more chances with his younger brother.  And that was what hurt him, more than anything.  Tosh could relate.

All too soon, they were pulling into the driveway of the Tregarth’s … which, she was shocked to realize, was quite long.  Toni, seeing her expression, took pity on her and quietly explained that it wasn’t that unusual ... and it was even less unusual to have a neighbor a half mile down the road, or even two miles down the road.  She admitted, in an undertone, that it was a bit of an adjustment for her to make when her family moved to Oklahoma.  Tosh would have blinked, if she had eyes or eyelids to blink.

And then, she would have blinked again, because the Tregarth home was … impressive.  It was three stories … then again, it would have to be, with the entire Tregarth family living under its roof, along with Jack, Rex Matheson (whom Owen didn’t get on with.  At all) and Esther Drummond.  Three stories and red brick.  Toni whispered that it was originally a ranch house, until Mr. Tregarth started adding to it.  Or rather, before he hired contractors to add to it.  Whoever did it, did an excellent job.  Jack asked Toni softly about Tosh’s expression and the girl laughingly told him that Tosh was doing an excellent impression of a stranded fish.  Little brat.  But there was only fondness in that thought, no rancor.  Jack grinned, winked and murmured, ‘ _I hope you get to see what’s under the house_.’

The new Hub.  He could only mean the new Hub.  She had to wonder what it would be like … and if she could switch her connection from Toni to Jack.  She was beyond grateful to Toni for what she’d done, but Jack … Jack was family.  Tosh focused her mind on every memory she had of Jack … of the tall, extremely handsome man who entered her cell; of their trip back to 1941; of his thumbs wiping away her tears after Mary; of his arms closing around her when he came back to life.  She remembered those same arms holding her as she died … and Jack breathed, “Tosh?  I can _see_ you.”  At those words, Tosh returned her attention to Jack’s face.  He repeated, sounding awed, “I can see you.  You’re _real_.”

He was staring at her now, not looking at Toni.  His eyes were wide and, and Tosh whispered, “Hello, Jack.  Did you miss me?”  His smile lit his face as he recognized a variation of his greeting when he returned to them, and Tosh beamed at him.  No one else understood, but he did … they did … and they were the only ones who counted at the moment.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Owen Harper was _not_ in a good mood.  It’d been quite some time since he’d felt this cranky … that disappeared when he returned to his home and Jack’s side.  He thought that part of him disappeared when he chased the Kinnickkinnock through the Rift and found them beating on Jack.  He thought wrong.  On the other hand, there was no way he could have known that a former colleague and lover decided to take over a new teammate and friend in order to save their immortal captain.  Owen stopped and thought about that for a minute, before shaking his head.  That was Torchwood for you.

He’d run multiple tests, but the conclusion was the same … just as he’d told Jack only that morning.  The scans he did of Natalie’s brain matched the scans he did of Cooper after Suzie died her final death.  That was troubling because a) Suzie was dead the last time he checked and b) to the best of his knowledge, the two women never met.  Oh, and c) Natalie never touched the Risen Mitten or the Life Knife, so there wasn’t a connection created that way.  Yes, she was on the same property as Suzie, but until Jack died repeatedly in the garage, she’d never even approached that part of the property.

Owen shook his head, itemizing what he knew.  Fact:  Nat’s brain scans matched Cooper’s after Suzie nearly drained the life from her.  Fact:  Natalie was never anywhere near Suzie and never touched either of those damn things.  Fact:  Natalie began behaving erratically after returning from Nevada.  Fact:  when Jack was killed in the garage, she had dreams of a woman who matched Suzie’s description urging her to see about their captain.  The doctor made a sour face, because the only way any of this made any sense was if Suzie’s ghost possessed Natalie.  And he didn’t believe in ghosts.

But at the same time … he knew aliens existed, so why not ghosts?  Why not … what was that word that Jack used when he described the Ianto they encountered months earlier?  Oh yes.  A revenant.  So, why couldn’t this be a revenant?  Owen examined that possibility a little closer.  New theory:  Suzie Costello’s ghost entered Natalie’s dreams to warn her about the danger to Jack.  Okay.  It was as plausible of an explanation as any.  However, it led to all new questions.  Owen made a face.  So what else was new with Torchwood?  First question, why would she do that?  The first time she returned from the dead (so to speak), Suzie used her second chance to kill her father, whom she hated.  Owen thought about the Suzie he slept with, the woman she was before the Glove.  She was never a warm and fuzzy type of woman, but she cared deeply for Owen, Tosh and Jack.  The weapons mistress may have come to care for Ianto, or he might have gotten on her nerves … it was hard to say.

The point was, Owen knew she was capable of caring for people.  The Suzie before the Gauntlet … yes, he could see her caring enough for Jack to take action to protect him.  All right.  So, he accepted that … he probably shouldn’t, since being dead didn’t do anything to improve Suzie’s disposition the first time around.  However … oh, he should have thought of that sooner.   When Suzie was brought back, it was using the Glove, and only a matter of months after her death.  However, it’d been … what, nearly six years since her death and her spirit only was involved. 

There was still the matter of why Natalie.  Owen never saw Suzie’s betrayal coming, but he still knew her.  There had to be more than simple convenience to her choice of Natalie.  Why did she choose Natalie?  Why not Sophia, or one of the maids, or even Ailsa?  He pulled out the notes he took while he was talking to Natalie about what she remembered … oh.  Oh, that was interesting.  It was interesting and he should have seen that earlier.

Natalie was asleep … which made her more vulnerable as a matter of course.  Her defenses were down.  Ailsa … that wouldn’t have made sense.  Whatever her other faults were, Suzie wouldn’t have done that to a child.  It would have been too much like what her father did to her.  Besides, the odds that people would have taken a child seriously weren’t in Suzie’s favor.  He tried for a moment to think about Suzie trying to use Sophia and then shuddered.  Oh, **no**.  Suzie might have tried it … but she would have regretted it.  And then, there was the final factor … Natalie still felt guilty about the what-might-have-been when Ailsa was taken. 

All right.  So she chose Natalie … or rather, chose to infiltrate her dreams.  Owen nodded to himself thoughtfully.  He had no way of testing his hypothesis (whether it was fortunate or unfortunate all depended on your viewpoint), but he thought this was the best theory he had yet.  Which brought him to the next question.  Well, his next questions, because with every answer or theory that he developed, more questions popped up.  First, did that connection, however tenuous, lead to Natalie feeling as if she wasn’t really herself, as if there was some bleed-through?  Right now, that was the most likely answer … but as Owen himself knew, likely didn’t equal correct.  Next question, if that was the reason for Natalie’s recent shortened temper, did Suzie know that would be the case?

Owen shook his head, backing away from his work with a sigh.  If he wanted to go further with this, he needed to conduct more tests and more scans, and even then …  He would do one more scan of Natalie’s brain, just to make sure it was back to normal and brief Jack on what he worked out.  His mobile beeped at him and Owen rubbed his face over his hand, sighing as he picked it up … especially when he saw that it was from his ‘apprentice’ Lucas.  Apprentice.  When the hell did that happen?  _Not apprentice_ , Owen decided _, ‘assistant_.’  Apprentice had connotations that made Owen uncomfortable.  But the text did nothing to ease his discomfort.

‘ _Meet us in kitchen_ ,’ the text read, ‘ _Esther got bad news_.’ Lucas … right.  Right, Esther was taking the boys to the ‘man cave’ (what a ridiculously stupid name for a room) to watch an old movie, ‘ _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_?’  He supposed that it didn’t matter.  Another text, this one from Jason, sourly informed him that, ‘ _G-pa called her on cell during movie_.’  Even he knew that you didn’t use the phone, mobile or otherwise, to give someone bad news!  Owen swore under his breath and bounced up into the bunkhouse.  He gave it a cursory look … Jack and Esther often came to the bunkhouse when Carlyon or Jason or Octavia were driving them nuts.  At least this last time, Esther remembered to make the bed when they returned to the main house.  Owen shuddered.  There were just some things no one needed to see.  Never mind that he slept with Jack in the past, that was different.  It was just … different.

The quick walk from the bunkhouse to the main house told him that the sheriff was returning … he’d gotten a text from Lucas earlier, telling him about the sheriff’s arrival and departure with half of the family, and that she had a Jeep Grand Cherokee for a squad car.  That could come in handy, he would imagine.  He waved and walked into the house using the kitchen entrance.  There, he found Lucas and Jason hovering over a pale, shaken Esther.  No, not shaken, Owen corrected himself, ‘stricken’ was a better way of putting it.  The two boys looked up, obviously relieved to see him, and Owen asked softly, “What happened?”

It was Esther who answered, her voice very small and very … unlike her, “My sister … my sister’s dead.  The … the accident that the sheriff came about.  It was my sister.”  Jason and Lucas didn’t say anything, but Jason kept his hand on Esther’s shoulder, while Lucas awkwardly stroked his hand over Esther’s blonde hair.  Their analyst continued in that strange voice, “She thought that I was dead and now she’s the one who’s dead and …”  She raised her eyes to Owen, the doctor quailing at the expression he saw there.  Without really knowing what he was doing or why, Owen knelt in front of her.  She whispered, “My sister’s dead, Owen, and I don’t feel anything.  I should feel something, but I don’t.”

She was in shock, without question.  The door open and closed behind Owen, and Esther murmured, “Jack.”  Owen moved, even as Esther surged up out of her chair and into Jack’s waiting arms.  She was folded against his chest and even muffled against Jack’s shirt, everyone could hear the sounds of her weeping.  Sophia and her youngest daughter were the next to enter the room, followed by three unfamiliar people (including a teenage girl), and finally, Carlyon Tregarth.  Jack’s eyes met Owen’s over Esther’s head.  He shouldn’t have known what that meant, but he did.  Owen Harper didn’t do warm and cuddly.  Even when he was curled against Jack, he didn’t do warm and cuddly.  But that didn’t stop him from stepping forward and wrapping his arms around both Esther and Jack … or Jack’s arm from wrapping around him as well.  Bastard.  He did that deliberately..

They stood there for several moments, the three strangers watching with a combination of unease, discomfort and curiosity.  At last, Esther pulled back, whispering, “I’m sorry.  I don’t feel anything, and I know that I won’t have any more chances with my sister, and …”  Jack kissed the top of her head, and Owen looked down at his feet.  Esther would start rambling before too much longer, and he had the uneasy sense that a diversion would be necessary.  But how did you interrupt a woman who’d just lost one third of her family?

“I am so sorry about your loss, Miss Drummond.  But I’m afraid that that is far from the worst thing that’s happened,” the dark-haired bird said … and wasn’t she a looker?  Yeah, Owen was developing feelings for Adriane, but that didn’t make him dead.  That was an unfortunate turn of phrase, reminding him of things best left in the past.  He took a deep breath, looking from the newcomer to  Esther, who blinked and almost literally shook herself.  The brunette continued, “I’m Sheriff Pilar Espinosa, this is Toni Weber and her father Gideon.  Nat and I went to school with him, Dr. Harper.”  Wait … she knew his name?  Sheriff Pilar Espinosa went on with a small smile, “Natalie briefed me in the car.”

“We need to have a briefing, but before anything else happens … Owen, there’s something you need to know,” Jack said.  Owen moved back a little to look up into his captain’s eyes, to see something glimmering there.  There was hope and awe and something else that Owen couldn’t quite define.  Jack continued, “You remember hearing about the Gelfth in the Torchwood database, correct?  The beings deprived of their corporeal forms by the Time War?”  Not really.  The archives and Mainframe was more Ianto and Tosh’s departments than his, but he nodded anyhow.  Jack continued, “It was the Gelfth who caused that earthquake … they’ve come through the Rift and want bodies.  It starts with the bodies of our dead, but they want all bodies, and not in a good way.”  _Well … hell_!

“The good news is, they didn’t come alone,” Jack continued, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and reflecting in his eyes.  _They didn’t come alone?_   Jack looked over at … something and asked, “What do you think?  Can you make yourself visible to everyone?  Or at least to Owen?”  Who in the hell was he talking to?  In spite of himself, his musings about Suzie returned to haunt him in that moment … it was the reference to the Gelfth, because after Jack mentioned them, Owen did know the alien species.  Could he help it that he remembered the aliens he autopsied better?

Gasps drew his attention back to the present, along with Sheriff Espinosa’s muttered, ‘ _Oh my God.  She’s **real**_.’  Owen looked up sharply as a figure began to blur into existence.  At first, it was just the outline of someone, which made him wonder what happened … and why the sheriff said it was a woman.  And then, features began to appear.  Very … very familiar, and very beloved features.  Owen stared in shock as a face (and body) from the past appeared before him.  There were some murmurings from the Tregarth family, but Owen didn’t pay attention to them.  This was his moment, his and Jack’s, because they were all that was left of Torchwood Cardiff in the early twenty-first century.  He remembered chances missed, to never come again, and a sobbing voice on the other end of the line as he struggled to save Cardiff from Gray’s fury.

And then the ghost, the revenant, whatever you wanted to call her, because it was a woman and she was real, and oh God, she was even more beautiful than Owen remembered, smiled at him.  Jack murmured, his arms tightening around both Owen and Esther, “Knew you could do it.”  Owen barely paid attention to him, because … because Tosh, his beautiful brilliant Tosh, stood before him.  She smiled at him then, a radiant smile.  She hadn’t said anything yet, but she didn’t need.  The Gelfth were back, but so was Tosh … and the Gelfth didn’t stand any kind of chance, much less a snowball’s chance in hell.

 

 

TBC


	11. Free-for-All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, ideas are circulated, plans are made, and Ailsa surprises everyone when she makes a connection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (blinks in astonishment at the writing of a chapter in two days) Okay, I was not expecting this. Then again, I’m also not going to argue. I never argue when the muses do this. I posted the previous chapter only hours before the son of William and Kate was born in London. As of the writing of this chapter, the little boy’s name isn’t known, but I offer my congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their little one. As things stand now, there will be three more chapters after this one … two regular chapters, followed by an epilogue. The next story in the series, ‘Prime and Prince’ is halfway written (they pulled a ‘Homecoming’ with me. Again). Oh, and just a quick question for anyone who is interested in answering. As I mentioned the last time, after ‘Prime and Prince’ is the Torchwood/Avengers story. I’m thinking seriously about posting it in crossovers. If anyone has an issue or concern with that, let me know why and I’ll take it under consideration. And now, on with the story.

Tregarth Homestead

 

“The first thing everyone needs to know is that this is not the Gelfth’s first time through the Rift.  Back in 1869, they attempted to come through the Rift en masse … at that time, they were stopped by the Doctor, Charles Dickens and a young Welsh maid who sacrificed her own life to stop them,” Jack Harkness explained.  They were in the common room … the young blonde girl whose sister died in the car accident (Esther) was ensconced in Jack’s lap, while Dr. Harper sat sitting beside them.  Pilar wasn’t entirely sure where the ghost … where Toshiko … was, but evidently both the captain and the doctor knew and she hoped they would have said something if someone sat down on her.  And as if she didn’t need proof that her life wasn’t weird enough already, that actually made some degree of sense to her.  The entire Tregarth family was assembled, aside from Priscilla.  It seemed she was getting some materials they’d need.

He turned his head to one side, listening intently and Pilar guessed that the arm of the chair was now occupied (sort of) by Miss Sato.  Jack smiled, and continued, “Tosh has said that their intent is the same as it was in 1869, but she thinks they made the same mistakes as they did:  they underestimated their chosen pawn.  They want the same thing as they did then … they want our bodies.  Both unused and used, and there are more than we knew.  When he thought it was only as many as the dead who inhabited the earth in 1869, the Doctor was willing to let them through.  Recycling bodies, so to speak.  Toni, did you get any idea of how many there were?”

The teenager who was huddled against her father’s shoulder shook her head, answering in a soft voice, “There are a lot of them, Captain.  I can’t tell you how many, but I’m pretty sure if they did come through this Rift, we’d be all but wiped out.  Tosh managed to buy us time … three days, but that’s assuming they honor their word.”  Pilar looked at her Little sharply, and Toni lifted her own shoulders, adding, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from you, Sheriff, it’s that bad guys don’t always honor their word.  And they scare me.  They took over my body without my permission, and that was when I knew they were bad guys.”

Natalie murmured, just loud enough for Pilar to hear her, “Psychic rape.”  Pilar looked at her former classmate … really looked at her, for the first time, and for the first time, she saw the shadows in her eyes.  Natalie’s expression was grim, with no trace of levity, and that sent chills down Pilar’s spine.  In all the years they’d been in school together, there was only one time when Pilar saw that expression on the other woman’s face.  And that was when the two girls faced off with some bullies who didn’t like their respective relationships with Quinn.  Funny how one of those bullies was now seated beside his daughter, a protective arm draped around her shoulders.  It was funny, really, how things and people in your life changed.

“That’s what you meant when you said things were worse, Sheriff Espinosa,” Esther said quietly, speaking for the first time since their arrival.  All eyes turned to the young woman curled against Jack.  She wiped at dry cheeks, as if she was trying to wipe away any evidence of tears.  Pilar looked at Jack, who merely pressed a kiss into Esther’s hair, and the girl continued steadily, “My sister is one of the … she was taken over by the Gelfth.  Wasn’t she.”  It was a statement, not a question, but Pilar had no idea how to respond.  And it wasn’t her job to respond, because the man who held Esther had that under control.

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s exactly what she meant.  We’re still not sure if the Riftquake caused the accident, but from what we learned from Pilar’s deputy at the scene, it seems likely that Sarah was one of the first to be taken by the Gelfth,” he murmured.  Pilar hoped against hope that the next words out of his mouth weren’t, ‘ _and she’ll be one of the first ones freed_.’  Actually, she hoped that he would **never** say that.  Instead, Captain Harkness told his analyst, “When we stop the Gelfth, Esther, that’s it.  Some of Sarah’s memories remain, but that thing out there … that’s not really Sarah.  That’s not your sister, that’s not Alys and Melanie’s mother.”  Esther nodded.

“It’s no different than if she was taken by Cybermen or Daleks,” she declared and the captain winced.  Esther rested her hand along his cheek, murmuring, “I didn’t mean it like that, Jack.  I’d never try to hurt you that way.”  The captain offered her a sweet smile, kissing the palm of her hand.  Cybermen?  Daleks?  Wait, _what_?  And Dr. Harper looked just as surprised as she felt.  Esther leaned her head against the captain’s shoulder, telling him, “In the first few weeks after he was shot, Jack … well, he was given to fevers, really high fevers.  There were times when he was delirious, when he talked about the past-and the not-so-distant past.”

There was a particular edge in her voice and Dr. Harper’s eyes narrowed.  Pilar didn’t understand any of what was being said (or not being said), but after a moment, the doctor’s face softened and he patted her knee.  Esther continued in a determined voice, “My sister is gone.  I accept that.  But if you think I might be a liability in the field, Jack, then I’ll stay here when it’s time for you to confront the Gelfth.  I put the world in danger once because of my … because of my emotions.  I won’t do it again.”

Now Pilar was thoroughly lost, and it was pretty likely that she wasn’t the only one.  Jack kissed her temple (and yes, she was swinging back and forth between calling him by name and using his rank, but he confused the hell out of her), murmuring, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, Esther.  You may be exactly what we need when we work out the best way to deal with the Gelfth.”  Personally, the sheriff could think of several ways the younger woman could help in the field … and nearly as many ways for things to go wrong.  But that wasn’t her call to make.

Priscilla Tregarth returned to the room at that point, saying, “I printed out everything we have on the Gelfth in the archives, Jack.  And figured I’d spare you some energy and time, Nat, since we’ll need hard copies as well.”  Natalie smiled and offered her eldest sister (!) a mock salute.  The first-born Tregarth daughter began distributing the print-outs, saying, “I propose that we make this a free-for-all.  If you have an idea, say so … maybe it’s a good idea, maybe it’s a bad idea, maybe it won’t work … but unless you tell us, we’ll never know.”  Pilar accepted her copy and sat back, beginning to read through the information downloaded by Carlyon Tregarth before his departure from Cardiff in 1965.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

When her parents, baby sister and the sheriff returned with Jack and the Webers, Priscilla really wasn’t anticipating the three newcomers to be drawn into Torchwood.  What surprised her even more was that neither her parents nor Jack were even making references to Retcon.  On the other hand, she acknowledged as she disappeared into the computer room, it was probably too late for Retcon … her parents already decided that they would need the help of Sheriff Espinosa (and wasn’t it strange to think of little Lari Espinosa as a sheriff?) with the opening of the Rift, while Toni was semi-involved in the opening of the new Rift.

As she worked in the computer room, Priscilla couldn’t help but left her mind drift … how much focus was really needed to find the correct files and then print them off, after all?  She thought about Esther when she came downstairs to find the girl in Jack’s arms, obviously still in shock.  Priscilla had only to imagine how she would feel if she lost either of her sisters to shudder in horror at what the poor girl was feeling.  She came so close to losing both Octavia and Natalie at various times … Octavia after that injury that ended her career as a police officer and Natalie when she was caught in the crossfire of their feuding neighbors.  In truth, she started having nightmares about both of those incidents after she told their mother about them, and those were just now beginning to ease.

Never mind that Esther was the stronger and more stable of the two, never mind that Sarah’s disorders devoured her after it was revealed that Esther was still alive … Sarah was still her sister, her older sister, and a significant part of her family was taken away.  As fragile as she was, she was still a rock in Esther’s existence, and now that was taken away.  Priscilla resolved to be there for the younger woman as much as possible.

She heard her parents discussing Esther, and how she reminded them both of Priscilla when she was younger.  For her own part, Priscilla couldn’t see it, but as she knew entirely too well, you didn’t always see yourself the same way others saw you.  Or maybe they meant physically.  Esther did, after all, have blonde hair and brown eyes, just as Priscilla had.  There were times when Esther reminded her of Octavia (when she gave Rex or Owen a hug, not letting go even after they grumbled at her) … times when she reminded her of Priscilla’s own mother (when she gave someone a ‘ _I’m not buying that and I’m insulted that you think I’m that stupid_ ’ look), and even, on occasion, she reminded Priscilla of her father.

If she didn’t know better, she would think that Esther was a member of the Tregarth family, and not just the Torchwood one.  Priscilla knew about the research her parents did into Esther’s background … hello, daughter of Torchwood operatives here!  She knew that Esther reminded her mother of her sisters, but nothing in the Drummond family tree indicated that there was a connection to the Tregarths.  Yes, they were Scottish and the Tregarths were Cornish, but that meant less than nothing.

Besides, it really didn’t matter, not right now.  Right now, their focus was on dealing with the Gelfth (although it wouldn’t surprise Priscilla at all if once Esther’s mind re-engaged itself, she focused more on the soonest she could have her way with Jack.  That was how humans were made.  In Ireland, during or after a wake, people would go into the fields for a tumble, to remind themselves that they were still alive).  Priscilla just hoped that Esther would think to take Jack into the bunkhouse … or even better, the room he shared with Owen.  Preferably, without Owen in there at the time, though he might enjoy watching.  She grinned to herself.  Knowing Owen, he probably would!

By the time she returned to the common room with the print-outs collated and stapled together, conversation was focused on whether Esther would be a liability or an asset in the field.  Quietly, Priscilla approved of Jack’s take on the subject.  They would worry about that when the need arose.  Otherwise, they were just borrowing trouble, and as her grandmother always liked to say, _‘if you go looking for trouble, you’ll find that your credit is always good_.’  Instead, she observed as she re-entered the room, “I printed out everything we have on the Gelfth in the archives, Jack.  And figured I’d spare you some energy and time, Nat, since we’ll need hard copies as well.” 

Her cheeky youngest sister responded with a smile and a mock-salute.  Priscilla offered a mock-scowl, which only served to make both of her sisters laugh.  No respect.  She received absolutely no respect around here!  Well, there was no help.  Instead of further harassing her younger sister (after all, that was what big sisters were for), Priscilla began distributing the print-outs, explaining, “I propose that we make this a free-for-all.  If you have an idea, say so … maybe it’s a good idea, maybe it’s a bad idea, maybe it won’t work … but unless you tell us, we’ll never know.”  There was a long silence and Priscilla heroically resisted the impulse to tease everyone about not speaking at once.  They needed to read over the material first.

That didn’t stop people from talking, however.  Owen wanted to know if her father made copies of all the information Torchwood Cardiff had in their Archive before his departure (he did … including schematics and drawings of things he couldn’t bring with him), while Rex was stunned at how Torchwood Three got its information under Emily Holroyd (that made Jack wince and Priscilla really couldn’t blame him.  She heard stories about those three, usually when her mother didn’t realize she was still awake). 

Priscilla’s father merely informed the former CIA agent that it was a different time.  It was equally clear that her father didn’t like it any more than Rex did.  Not that Priscilla cared.  She found ‘CIA,’ as her nephews called him, incredibly annoying.  In truth, there were times when Priscilla was sure the only reason she could tolerate him was because of how Octavia felt about him.  She wasn’t ready to admit that her little sister was in love with him … maybe because she still missed David, and always would.  But then, he would do something to remind her of his true character, and Priscilla knew better.

Not for the first time, Priscilla wondered what her late brother-in-law would make of the changes recently.  She knew that his twin brother Daniel worked for the Families during Miracle Day … she also knew that if David knew what his brother had become, it would have broken his heart.  That wasn’t what made her curious.  She wondered what he would have made of Jack (probably amused, exasperated, mildly frustrated combined with intense affection), what he would have made of Rex ( _annoying S.O.B, but not without reason_ ), what he would have made of Esther ( _sweet girl, are you **sure** she’s strong enough for this_?), and above all …

Well, he knew about Torchwood.  Considering Octavia nearly died on a Torchwood op, it would be kinda hard for David _no_ t to know about it.  But this incarnation?  Who could say?  She shook her head, returning her attention to the print-outs as she read through them a third time and tried not to compare David and Rex.  That would lead to madness, and they were all crazy already.  Jason said, “Okay, so when they first tried to come through, Charles Dickens came up with the triggering idea … turning off the gas lamps.  That was fine in 1869 … but we don’t have gas lamps in the twenty-first century.  There’s a lot of open air.  So, how do we put these goobers to bed?  Trap them somewhere?”

“Depends on how many have already come through.  The sheriff there has radioed to her other deputies, telling them to keep an eye out for anything strange … well, stranger than usual.  OW!” Jack protested, glaring at … the blank space beside him.  Evidently, Toshiko Sato was able to focus enough to swat Jack if it became necessary.  While they could all see her when she appeared to Owen at first, as well as everyone gathered, she didn’t have the energy or focus to keep it up.  So now, the only people who saw her were Jack, Owen, and Toni Weber.

“That’s an idea, though,” Mama said thoughtfully, “we don’t know how many there are.  If we can split them up, lure them to two separate places, that would be a good start.  Jason, Lucas, didn’t you boys tell me that you were working on a program that would trace the line of the Rift, especially if it ran through the town?”  Priscilla’s two nephews bobbed their respective heads in acknowledgment and Mama continued, “Have you made any progress on that?  Of course, I’m still in awe of the information that Holroyd managed to gather about something that happened ten years before Torchwood was even formed.”

“Jack knew some of it, thanks to his travels with the Doctor.  He filled in some of the blanks.  And despite what your friend the Doctor thought, Jack, Charles Dickens did write it down,” Priscilla’s father said, and she found herself quite proud of him.  He managed to contain his contempt for the Time Lord, even though nearly everyone in the room knew that he didn’t like the alien with two hearts.  Perhaps seeing the startled looks from the newcomers, Dad went on, “We’ll just say that an ancestor of mine was a great friend of Mr. Dickens and read some things that the public never did.”

Jack muttered something under his breath, and no one chose to ask for more information.  Instead, Mama said in a too-bright voice, “Well then!  Since we now know where Torchwood got their information, I think we should open the floor for discussion.  Like my daughter said, tell us whatever’s on your mind.  Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad, but as we learned after Ailsa was kidnapped, sometimes it’s the most unlikely scenario that turns out to be the best plan.  Which reminds me, before we really get started … Nat, is Ailsa still asleep?”  It was Octavia who bobbed her head, and Mama continued, sounding more than a little relieved, “Then I declare the floor open for any and all suggestions.”

 

 

TWTWTWTWTW

 

 

She was real.  She was here.  And God, she was so damn _beautiful_.

From the moment that Tosh ‘decloaked’ in the kitchen, Owen hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her.  There were so many things he wanted to say to her, so many things he …it was like Esther said.  There were no more chances, except when there were.  Owen allowed himself a small smile.  Only in Torchwood would a comment like that make any remote kind of sense.  He mentally excused himself from the conversation … he came up with the solution for Ailsa’s bitch teacher.  He’d let someone else get the glory this time.  Right now, the only thing he cared about was Tosh.

For her, it was a matter of days.  For him (and for Jack), it was four years, and when Jack wasn’t cuddling Esther (not that Owen held it against either of them, especially not since Owen had also gotten cuddles from Jack), he was sneaking his own peeks over at Tosh.  It fell to him and to Toni to ‘translate’ Tosh’s contributions to the conversation.  Owen would glance toward the conversation before returning his attention to the beautiful tech.  She offered him a shy smile and Owen found himself grateful that they were with the Tregarths.  He didn’t know what to say to her.  So he contented himself with smiles and never losing eye contact with her.

And for her own part, Tosh’s eyes always returned to him.  She looked around the room, mouthing the name of each person:  Sophia, Carlyon, Priscilla, Octavia, Jason, Lucas, Nicky, Adriane, Toni, Gideon, Pilar, Natalie, Rex, Esther, Jack, Owen.  He understood what she was doing, even if they didn’t, even if they didn’t notice what she was doing.  She was fixing the new Torchwood team in her mind, both the main team and the auxiliary.  Unfortunately, neither the Hallorans (aside from Nicky) nor Chuck Havelock were here.  But it didn’t matter, because she knew that Owen and Jack wouldn’t be alone.

“Mommy?  Who’s the pretty  lady?” a sleepy voice inquired.  All conversation stopped as Ailsa stumbled into the common room and immediately crawled into her mother’s lap.  Natalie cuddled the little girl close, kissing the top of her head, and Ailsa snuggled even closer.  The adults in the room exchanged bewildered looks … and even Owen was distracted.  Natalie must have asked softly what she meant about the pretty lady, because Ailsa said around a huge yawn, “The pretty lady across from Dr. Owen, sitting beside Jack.  And why is Aunt Esther sitting on Jack?”  Natalie frowned thoughtfully, looking from her daughter to that seemingly blank space beside their captain and back again.  Owen was doing the same, while Tosh was sitting up straighter.  Ailsa waved at Tosh, “Hi!  My name is Ailsa!  What’s yours?”  She said all around a yawn that should have done a number on her little jaw.

As it was, Tosh was staring at the child with no small amount of awe, and she breathed, “You can see me?”  Ailsa nodded as if it was the most natural thing in the world to see a ghost sitting beside a living person.  Then again, you just never knew around here … maybe to her, it was.  Tosh smiled, sitting forward, and said, “My name is Toshiko Sato … I worked with Dr. Owen and Jack, once upon a time.”  Ailsa frowned, just a little, and Owen bit his lip.  He knew that expression and knew things were about to get quite interesting.  The rest of the adults in the room seemed to agree.

“Toshiko?  That’s like my Barbie’s name … her name is ‘Tosh,’ cause it’s the same name as a lady that Dr. Owen and Jack loved, but she died and it made them sad, so I named my Barbie Tosh,” Ailsa told her.  Tosh looked first at Jack, and then Owen, and then finally turned her attention back to Ailsa with a gentle smile.  Owen felt his ears burning and cursed his fair skin.  To be fair, though, Jack wasn’t doing any better.  If there was a bright side to any of this, a small smile was creeping across Esther’s face … and it was just as gentle and just as sweet as Tosh’s.

“I’m their Tosh, Ailsa, and they’re my Dr. Owen, my Jack.  I guess they’re your Dr. Owen and your Jack now, too, aren’t they?” Tosh asked softly and Ailsa was now awake enough to nod so hard, Owen thought her head would come off her shoulders.  Tosh continued, “So, if I asked you to take care of them for me, you’d do it?  Oh, I know you’ll need your mum’s help, and your aunt Esther’s help, but you’ll do it.”  Once again, Ailsa nodded, a bit more gently, and Owen tried to speak, tried to interrupt, because she couldn’t be saying good-bye when they’d barely said ‘hello.’  There was still too much left for them to say, and Owen was absolutely determined not to throw away this chance as he’d thrown away every other chance he was given.

But a curious thing happened during Tosh and Ailsa’s conversation, something that Owen never even noticed.  Not until Esther shifted in Jack’s arms and said quietly, “We take care of them as much as they’ll let us, Miss Sato.  I’m pretty sure that you’ve noticed that they don’t make it easy for anyone.  Especially Jack.”  Tosh stiffened, but then her face lit up and Owen watched as she turned to face Esther.  The two women, who were so alike in some ways and so different in others, stared at each other for a long time.  After a moment, Tosh smiled and Esther murmured, “Jack didn’t have any pictures … they were destroyed in the Hub.  But he told me that you were as beautiful as you were smart, and I can see that he’s right.  I’ll do my best to take care of them.  And you’re right … the ladies of the house help with that as much as possible.”

“Thank you,” Tosh breathed and Esther smiled again.  Owen had the sense that with Esther’s promise, something between the two women was settled.  Tosh gave the impression of taking a deep breath, and then she looked directly at him.  Owen steeled himself for whatever she was about to say, because his instincts were screaming at him that this wasn’t good.  It might not have been good, but it also wasn’t bad.  Tosh said softly, “There’s still so much that I need to say to you and to Jack, but I promise we’ll have time to say everything at the end of this.  We need to focus on the Gelfth right now and the best way to defeat them.”

Owen relaxed.  Tosh spoke with such certainty, with such …  She knew.  She knew that there would be time after, that they would have time after, to say what needed to be said:  her, Jack, and Owen.  And that was good enough for him.  He gave a small nod, a nod which Jack copied (with no comment accompanying it, which kinda creeped Owen out).  There was a general exhale from the rest of the room, and into the silence that followed, everyone looked at each other, as if to say, _‘I’m not speaking first, you do it_!’

Finally, Pilar Espinosa said, “According to the records, Mr. Dickens began the destruction of the Gelfth by turning off the gas lamps … and that turned off the oxygen to the flame.  Do I understand that correctly?”  Jack inclined his head, and the woman continued, “Right now, we can only deal with the Gelfth who have already come through the Rift, which is a small fraction of the Gelfth who exist.  Correct?”  This time, it was Toni who nodded.  Pilar continued, “And this maid … Gwyneth?  She trapped them by blowing up the mortuary and sacrificing her own life at the same time.  She was their conduit.  So all we need to do is figure out a way to do the same without any harm coming to Toni at the same time.”

Owen shared a look with Jack, both men knowing all too well that it was possible that what Pilar just described was a best case scenario, and best case scenarios were painfully rare in Torchwood.  However, neither of them pointed this out to her.  They didn’t have the chance to do that anyhow, because her words opened up the floor to suggestions once more.  They weren’t nearly as creative as the ones to deal with Lola Wycliffe (Owen still loved Esther’s idea of blood-eagling the bitch.  If the Families came after his own family again, the doctor couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t use that very idea against them).

Maybe it was karma, maybe it was something else … but Lucas brought the conversation to a crashing halt (that didn’t sound right, but he would worry about that later) when he said almost off-handedly, “Well, we can’t turn off the oxygen in the world … that would kill us as well as them.  Why can’t we spray them in the face with a fire extinguisher to deal with the ones who are already out, and then trap the others … some place?”  The entire room fell silent as all eyes turned toward the young man. He gulped at the sudden attention, but didn’t back down.  _Good for him_.  Jack’s head raised and Owen could tell that he was considering just that.

“There’s no reason,” he said quietly.  Everyone looked at him, taking the attention away from Owen’s assistant.  Jack repeated slowly, “There’s no reason why we can’t.  Sheriff Espinosa, are your deputies, both regular and auxiliary … are they tracking the Gelfth in town?”  The woman nodded, frowning thoughtfully, and now Owen saw where Jack was going with this.  The captain continued after a moment, “Tosh bought us time … she got us three days, but the fewer living people who come into contact, the better.”

“My younger brother is obsessed with the zombie apocalypse,” Pilar offered thoughtfully, “if I tell him that the earthquake caused a traffic accident, which in turn released an experimental gas … that could work as a cover story.  I’ve never lied to the citizens before, and I don’t like doing it now, but … I think this would be the best way to handle it.   
It’s my job to keep them safe, and I’m afraid they wouldn’t … I really think this is our best shot.”  Jack and Owen looked at each other, startled by her words.  Pilar saw that expression, and sighed, “I’m a realist, boys.  I may not be active service, but I’m still a Marine.”

“We appreciate that,” Jack said, his eyes sweeping over Pilar as if he was imagining her in uniform.  The sheriff actually blushed, Tosh giggled, while Esther grinned.  More seriously, Jack continued, “The next thing is, do we have enough fire extinguishers for this?  Can we get enough fire extinguishers in the next three days?”  Pilar’s slow smile answered that question, and Jack returned her smile with one of their own.  Oh, that was scary.  While Pilar hadn’t shown signs of being the flirt that Jack was, you just could never tell.  As he knew from his dealings with Ianto, it was sometimes the quiet ones who were the most dangerous ones.  Rephrase.  It was _usually_ the quiet ones.

“Ohhhh, I think we can manage _that_.  And that brings us to the next question … trapping the ones we can’t spray,” Pilar said.  Esther cleared her throat, and Pilar looked to her, obviously surprised.  And then, she laughed.  Their analyst merely smirked, and Pilar said, “Of _course_.  We use the extinguishers to corral them.  So the next step is, where we herd them to.  I guess that means the floor is open up to ideas.  Again.”  Owen grinned in spite of himself, because she was absolutely right.  And as he learned during the last few months, ever since he returned through the Rift, Oklahoma was prone to tornadoes … and thus, many houses (occupied and abandoned) had storm shelters.  Underground storm shelters, where they could trap the Gelfth.  And then, they would worry about making sure no more came through. 

It was a good plan, Owen thought.  He just hoped that it _worked_.

 

TBC

 


	12. An Unexpected Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason figures out a way to take out the Gelfth; a revelation rocks the Tregarth matriarch and patriarch; while Esther uses an unconventional way (for her) to come to grips with her sister’s death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now that’s just scary … then again, since I’m on stand-by while the college figures out if they have enough money to pay me, I have plenty of time on my hands (when I’m not puppy-sitting or watering my neighbor’s plants. No, Jack, that is not a double-entendre). In this chapter, we discover the reason for the title of the story. I won’t be surprised if more than one person figured this out, as I tried to leave clues without being obvious about it. Next chapter has the showdown between Torchwood South and the Gelfth, and while things didn’t work out as I initially envisioned, I think I like this version better.

“I have it.”

The words, surprisingly enough, came from Jason.  Aside from a murmured apology to his grandfather when everyone returned home, Jason had largely stayed silent during the ‘jam session,’ as her middle daughter had taken to calling it.  The use of the fire extinguishers was a good one, her husband acknowledged, and the conversation turned to a) finding a place where they could trap the Gelfth and b) figuring out a way to lure them there.  All eyes turned toward her oldest grandson, who continued, “It’s been staring us in the face all this time.  We can use the Miracle to our advantage.”

“Go on, Jason,” Jack encouraged.  By now, Esther shifted from his lap to the unoccupied cushion beside him, and was busy looking up abandoned properties around Dupres that had a storm shelter attached to the house or a very large basement.  She looked up from her research, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully.  The research into this portion of their plan served as a very welcome distraction for the young analyst, who was now fretting about how to tell Alys and Melanie that their mother was dead.  _One problem at a time_ , Priscilla told the girl, _one problem at a time._   And then, she took Nicky aside and made him swear not to tell the youngsters.  He agreed, staring at both Esther and Toni anxiously.

“Okay, here’s what we need to do.  When Jack ended Miracle Day … yes, CIA, we know that he did it with your help … but when he ended Miracle Day, people began dying.  We don’t know if the Gelfth know that or not, but we can still use it.  A lot of those people were cremated, but just as many weren’t.  We tell them that they can have the bodies of those who weren’t cremated, and we take them to where those bodies are stored,” Jason told them eagerly, his hands moving in the air to illustrate his point.

“Minor problem with that, Jase,” Adriane observed, speaking for the first time as well.  She was very carefully not looking in Toshiko Sato’s direction as she spoke, and for obvious reasons.  It had to be more than a little awkward to be in the same room as your sort-of boyfriend’s not-quite-girlfriend’s ghost.  And that was weird, even for Torchwood.  Adriane continued when she was sure that she had everyone’s attention, “Miracle Day ended nearly a year ago.  The bodies would be badly decomposed and smelling _very_ badly.”

“But that’s where the storm shelter or whatever you want to call it comes in, Dree,” Jack answered, obviously seeing where Jason was going with this.  Sophia’s oldest granddaughter stared at him, not seeing what he (and Jason) saw.  Jack continued patiently, “In the first place, the Gelfth don’t need to know that the Miracle ended nearly a year ago … they won’t know unless we told them.”  Now, Sophia could see the understanding that was dawning in Adriane’s face, and Jack continued, “And in the second place, if the dead bodies are underground, the smell won’t be as bad.  Unfortunately, the sheriff’s department doesn’t have a coroner, but I’m sure there’s _something_ that we can use to our advantage.”

There was no hint of innuendo in Jack’s last statement, which worried the hell out of Sophia.  However, she wouldn’t bring attention to it.  And she didn’t have the opportunity, either, since Esther said, “There is.  I just found it.”  This time, all eyes turned to her.  The girl continued, her voice rising with excitement, “On the edge of town is the old elementary school.  The new one was built in 1997.  For reasons that aren’t discussed, the old one was never torn down.  But this is where it gets good.  The storm shelter had to be large enough for most of the school.  According to this, the bathrooms were too small for a significant number of students to take shelter, so they built a large shelter.  It would be the perfect place to store our hypothetical Miracle victims … away from the town and underground.”

“She’s right,” Pilar confirmed, sitting up straight, “and we don’t have to worry about someone who has lured them in getting trapped.  There’s a second exit.  And while Captain Harkness is right that we don’t have a _big_ coroner’s office, we do have one … and they currently have five bodies on ice.  Five bodies that we can use as bait for the Gelfth.  Which brings up one last concern.  You know more about this Rift than I do … how far is it from the schoolhouse?”  A very good point, and Sophia was pleased to see that their sheriff was adapting so quickly to the changes in her world view.  She would make an excellent ally for Torchwood.

“Hang on,” Jason replied a bit distractedly, “I need to email the most recent information to Esther, so she can compare.  The thing is, Sheriff Espinosa, the Rift is capable of growing … and we sometimes don’t know how much it has grown until someone disappears unexpectedly.  There.  Sent.”  He sat back and Sophia favored him with a proud grin.  And she was.  She was so proud of him.  The young man blushed, ducking his head.  A ‘ _ding_ ’ alerted everyone that Esther received the note and a slow smile spread across her face. 

“That matches up very well.  Given what Jack and Owen have told me, it’s close enough to the Rift that the Gelfth will feel the energy from it, and to open the Rift further to bring their brethren through.  Or, think they can at least.  I … actually, I have a suggestion.  Use the fire extinguishers for stragglers … and to prevent the Gelfth from getting out of the shelter.  Sheriff Espinosa is right … there are two entrances/exits.  Station a person at both ends, to keep them in place, and then do what needs to be done,” Esther pointed out.

“Will that pose a problem, Sheriff?” Carlyon asked quietly.  She thought about that for a moment, before shaking her head with a small smile.  Sophia only just met the woman, but already she was getting a handle for her facial expressions.  She had the strange feeling that this would actually solve a problem.  Granted, she was still getting used to this town, and to her new neighbors, but that was the impression she was receiving.

As it turned out, she was a hundred percent correct.  The sheriff replied, “On the contrary.  It would actually solve some problems.  One reason people have started pushing for the destruction of the old school, regardless of sentimental value, is because meth gangs have been setting up shop in similar places.  If we blow up the storm shelter, the old school goes with it … and we rob the meth gangs of a potential laboratory.”  No one could mistake the satisfaction in her voice … nor could Sophia blame her for it.

“And that gives us a convenient scapegoat … a meth lab blew up,” Jack added with a _very_ satisfied grin.  Sheriff Espinosa needed only a moment to think that one through, and realize that he was quite correct.  The smile she offered Jack in turn made the hairs on the back of Sophia’s neck rise.  Not because she was as flirtatious as Jack, but because the idea of a slightly more serious, non-flirtatious female version of Jack was enough to terrify any sane person.  Jack went on after a moment, “So, we use the next three days to find enough fire extinguishers to do what we need to do, and to get explosives.”

“Can’t help you there.  I don’t have many explosives lying around the sheriff’s office, and I didn’t handle them in the Marines.  And my brother or sister Marines who _did_ handle them are in other states,” Pilar said apologetically, putting down the print-outs that Priscilla made and sitting back.  That seemed to be a signal to everyone else that the impromptu meeting was over.  A quick look at Carlyon and Jack confirmed this, and Jason offered to drive Gideon Weber and his daughter home, an offer that was quickly accepted.  The father seemed to be in shock, and the daughter … well, she wasn’t happy that she couldn’t do more.  At Octavia’s suggestion, Adriane volunteered to remain at the house, in case the Gelfth came back.  Good.  That was very good. For his own part, Owen mentioned returning to the med bay in the Hub.  It was a pretty good bet that Tosh would go with him.  Since Owen could see her, she could follow him … or Jack. 

“Good.  In that case, you’ll have to excuse us both … I have a sudden urge to tend to a little Captain,” Esther said, putting down her laptop and grasping Jack’s hand.  With those words, she pulled the obviously-stunned captain from the room, while the remaining adults in the room looked at each other in shock.  Well, that removed any likelihood of Toshiko following Jack! Ailsa whispered something to a fiercely-blushing Natalie.  Thank God she whispered it.  Sophia wasn’t sure how she would have reacted if Ailsa asked the obvious question out loud.  It was bad enough that Octavia’s eyes lit up and she grabbed Rex’s hand, evidently dragging him to the stables.  Lucas muttered something about joining Owen in the medbay.

She was even more grateful when her still-blushing daughter took Ailsa from the room, leaving behind Sophia, Carlyon, and Pilar.  The former Marine said into the silence that followed, “Okay.  Well.  I wasn’t expecting _that_.  However, I won’t deny that I’m glad of it.”  Sophia raised her eyebrows and Pilar explained, “There’s still the matter of paperwork that we found in Sarah Drummond’s car.  I think it’s long past time we looked at that.”  Sophia and Carlyon exchanged a glance and then, as one, joined Pilar Espinosa.  If it was important enough to draw Sarah Drummond here from Washington DC, it was important enough for them to look at.

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Carlyon Tregarth had a lot of regrets in his life.  It was his considered opinion that it was to be expected.  After all, one did not live ninety years (or close to it) without accumulating regrets.  His greatest regrets involved 1965 (of course), his inability to tell his youngest daughter the truth about her heritage, and too many other issues to enumerate.  When one lived so many years, it was to be expected and even anticipated.  When one lived so many years and ran an institute that forced one to make difficult choices, it wasn’t to be expected to even anticipate.  It was simply the way things were.

However, one thing he would never regret to the end of his life (and yes, Carlyon was painfully aware that he was running out of time) was looking through the papers that Sarah Drummond brought to Oklahoma from Washington DC.  Her purpose was not to reclaim her daughters, interestingly enough, but to bring something to the attention of her younger sister.  Carlyon found it bizarre and even more tragic that she traveled successfully from the nation’s capital across country, only to die a mere ten miles from her destination.  Was it happenstance, or something far more sinister?  Carlyon was of the opinion that they would likely never know the answer to that question.

Besides, it wasn’t as important as the question of what brought her to Oklahoma, a question that was answered when Pilar Espinosa murmured, “Oh my God.  Mr. Tregarth … I think _this_ is what you’re looking for.”  Carlyon looked up from what he was reading (namely, the obituary for one Robert Drummond), to find the young sheriff holding out a sheet of paper.  He exchanged an uneasy look with his wife, before accepting the piece of paper.  It was a birth certificate … Esther’s birth certificate, to be exact.  But there was something wrong, something horribly wrong.  In fact, there were several things horribly wrong … starting with a birthdate that was significantly different from what was on her driver’s license and passport.

That was the first thing that caught his eye.  The second thing that drew his attention, and likely was what drew Sheriff Espinosa’s, was the fact that Esther was born here in Oklahoma.  More to the point, she was born in Lawton … on the same day that his eldest grandchild Juliana was born and died.  He swallowed hard, taking note of the information before him.  Sophia asked softly, “Carlyon?  What is it?”  He looked from the sheriff, who was watching him anxiously, to his wife.  And Sophia, his lovely Sophia, was merely staring at him with obvious concern.  He didn’t blame her for being concerned, because an awful, wonderful thing just occurred to him.

One would think, given the passage of time, that Carlyon would have forgotten certain things about the painfully-short life of his first-born grandchild.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  He remembered everything.  He remembered holding his daughter’s hand as her beautiful baby was born … her beautiful, perfect, healthy baby girl who was dead only a short time later.  He remembered the way Priscilla cradled her new daughter against her chest, murmuring, “Juliana.  Her name is Juliana, Daddy.  Isn’t she perfect?” 

He remembered holding Priscilla in his own arms as they were informed of Juliana’s death, and even now could feel her hot tears against his neck.  At length, he looked up at his wife and said hoarsely, “This is Esther’s birth certificate.  She was born on the same day, in the same hospital as our lost granddaughter Juliana.  So far as Esther knew, she was born in Washington DC, where she grew up.  But she was born in Lawton, in the same hospital as Juliana, and the attending doctor was the same individual.”  Sophia frowned, and the exact same possibility occurred to her.  Her face paled, before her eyes narrowed.

“Do you remember Juliana’s length and weight?  I … oh.  Oh,” Sophia began, her voice trailing off as she sifted through the paperwork in her lap.  She held up a paper that Carlyon couldn’t quite make out.  And it wasn’t necessary, because she said in an unsteady voice, “They had a record of where Juliana was buried, Carlyon.”  That awful, wonderful possibility was growing more and more solid with each piece of paper they found.  Why would Robert Drummond want to know where Juliana Tregarth was born?

Pilar said, her voice equally unsteady, “I found something else.  It’s a letter, addressed to you, Mr. Tregarth, from Robert Drummond.”  Instead of reading it, she extended a trembling hand to Carlyon, a trembling hand that held the missive in question.  Carlyon accepted the letter gingerly, feeling foolish for handling a piece of paper (or pieces of paper) as if they were a particularly volatile bomb just about to blow up.  The trouble was, what was written on those sheets of paper had the potential to blow up Carlyon’s life.

And it did.  Contained within that letter was the story of a fragile young woman who gave birth to an even more fragile baby girl.  The birth took a great deal out of her … indeed, the doctors feared she wouldn’t survive.  Their fears intensified after her infant daughter died only hours after she was born.  The grieving father and husband didn’t have the courage to tell his wife, feared taking the risk that news of their child’s birth would be too much for the woman already fighting for her life.  He held his daughter, kissing her forehead and telling her that they would always love her … and then, while the nurse’s back was turned, he switched that lifeless little body with a very much alive little girl.  He took note of the name of the little girl whom he was taking away from her family, knowing that his own little girl would be buried under that name.

Sophia asked softly, “Carlyon?  What is it?”  He shook his head, because he couldn’t answer her, not yet.  And thank whatever deity you believed in, his beautiful wife never hesitated to be silent when he couldn’t find words.  She didn’t fill the room with words that meant nothing, and it was one reason why he loved her so very much.  For twenty-six years, he believed that his oldest granddaughter was dead.  For twenty-six years, his oldest daughter mourned the loss of her oldest daughter.  For twenty-six years …

At last, Carlyon rasped out, “It’s a letter, from Robert Drummond, explaining the reasons for his crimes … for the sins he committed against this family.  It’s an explanation why our Priscilla’s heart was broken more than twenty-five years ago, when she was told that her little girl was dead.”  Sophia’s hand rose to her throat and Carlyon continued, “According to this, the blame is entirely his own.  None of the hospital staff was involved or indeed, knew anything about the switch.  It was his intention to take the secret to his grave, so his wife would never learn about it.  Her … her own condition was grave when their daughter Esther died.”

Their daughter Esther.  Their daughter Esther, who lay in the grave with the name ‘Juliana Wynn Tregarth,’ while the real Juliana was alive and well, and whom Carlyon helped to rescue nearly a year earlier from the Families.  Sophia said hoarsely, “Priscilla was right.  She was right all along.  Her daughter didn’t die.  She didn’t die and … that means that you were sending a team to rescue our granddaughter, and you didn’t even know it.”  Carlyon bowed his head.  Yes, that was what kept rolling through his mind, over and over again.  The Families nearly took their Juliana from them for good, and they would have never known it.

And yet, she was still Esther.  That was how she knew herself for twenty-six years, and Carlyon knew they would have to proceed very slowly and very cautiously.  How exactly did you tell a young woman that so much of what she knew to be her life was a lie?  Pilar said quietly, “So, Esther Drummond is in fact Juliana Tregarth … and Esther Drummond is buried in Juliana Tregarth’s grave.  That sums it up?”  Carlyon inclined his head numbly.  That was an excellent summation of the current situation.  The young sheriff was silent for several moments, before finally saying, “Right.  While it technically doesn’t have anything to do with the case at hand, I do suggest that you tell her this sometime before we’re supposed to square off with the Gelfth.  I don’t know too much about these things, but I think she should hear it from you and not something using her older sister’s body as a suit.”

Carlyon winced at her rather graphic description, but couldn’t argue with it or with anything else she had to say.  Sophia murmured, “Agreed.  Today, if possible. But Carlyon, my love?  Remind me to add what they did to our granddaughter to my list of grievances against the Families.”  There was a steel edge to his wife’s voice that caused a shiver to run down Carlyon’s spine and caused Pilar to move away from her slowly.  Sophia, noticing the movement, allowed herself a small smile and informed the younger woman, “There’s no need for you to worry, my dear.  The only people who have to fear from me are the monsters whose acts against this world led to a deterioration in my younger sister’s condition and who abducted my oldest granddaughter with the intent to use her against my best friend.  They have _everything_ to fear from me.”

And that, as they said, was that.  However, it wouldn’t surprise Carlyon at all to find that Jack had some suspicions of the truth.  After all, he figured out within hours of meeting Natalie that she was Carlyon and Sophia’s daughter, rather than their granddaughter.  Only time would tell, though.  Only time would tell.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Jack Harkness did _not_ , in fact, know the heritage of the woman now clinging to him, skin against skin, sweat mingling with sweat.  At the moment, all he was aware of was the feathery touch of her long blonde hair across his skin, her features buried against the crook of his neck, and the thump-thump-thump of her heart against his own chest.  And if he had known … well, he wouldn’t have told her.  That was a call for her family to make, not him. 

At that moment in time, the only thing that mattered to him was the trembling woman he held.  He stroked his hand over her hair soothingly, pressing kisses to her temple ever so often.  She was calmer now than when they reached his room, the room he shared with Owen.  When they reached the room, any pretense at calm, at anything, was gone.  Esther had very gently closed the door behind her, before turning back to him, eyeing him hungrily.  Jack once told Gwen that if Abaddon fed on life, then Jack himself would be an all-you-can-eat buffet to the demon.  It seemed that Esther agreed, because before he had the chance to say anything (even crack a joke), she was kissing him within an inch of his life, small hands knotting in his braces as she pushed him back onto the bed.

And to say that she had her way with him would have been a massive, **massive** understatement.  Always in the past, Esther was incredibly tender with him.  While she wasn’t rough in their most recent go-round, she was far more aggressive than normal, all but attacking his lips, neck, throat, and all points south.  Oh, don’t get him wrong … it was a huge turn-on, but it also worried him, because it was so unlike Esther.  That was unlike Esther and her reaction to her sister’s death (jumping him like this) was unlike her as well, and therefore, it was cause for him to worry.  But he didn’t ask her if she was all right.  He had his answer from the way Esther clung to him, and the way her body trembled even now.

At last, she whispered against his skin, “Am I a bad person?  My sister died today, and here I am, all but assaulting you into bed.”  Jack tightened his arms around her, trying to work out the best way to answer her.  As he well knew from living for so very long, there was no ‘improper’ way to react to trauma (aside from hurting others).  And whether Esther accepted it or not, she’d suffered through several traumas in the last year.  When he stopped and thought about it, her superior officer at the CIA’s treason had tossed her into a world that she was even now coming to grips with.  Too bad the Families killed him, as well as Olivia Colasanto and that other agent.  Jack would have liked to deal with that prick himself … even though really, Rex should have gotten first dibs on him.

With that in mind, he whispered, “A large part of your life was taken away today, Esther.  Even though you were the stronger sister for so long, she was still your older sister, still all that you had left of your parents.  And there was so much that remained unsaid between the two of you.  Now, not only is she dead, but her body is being used by the Gelfth.  The Doctor didn’t see anything wrong with what he thought was a few Gelfth using the bodies of dead humans … but he changes bodies, regenerates.  I think about how people who did lose people they loved, and recently … and I have to disagree.”  There was also the matter of the Ninth Doctor still reeling from the Time War, but he wouldn’t tell Esther.  It wasn’t pertinent.

After a moment, he continued, “Right now, with your sister’s death, you’re … trying to hold onto what you have remaining.  And that’s us … that’s me.  I’m someone you can’t lose, because even if you grow to hate me … which I hope you don’t … but even if you do, you’ll still know that somewhere on this planet, or out in space among the stars, I’m there.  Besides, on subconscious level, you’re reminding yourself that you’re still alive.”  That was the crux of the matter, really.  Esther needed to know that she was still alive, that Jack and Rex and the Tregarths really rescued her from the Families.  The girl was silent for a long time, her breathing slowing down, along with her heart rate.

At last, she said softly, “Tosh is beautiful.”  Jack smiled, agreeing softly, and Esther went on after a moment, “You know, seeing her reminded me of a story that Owen told me, not long after he joined up with us.  It was when an alien pretending to be a human was helping you to save the world, to protect it from the rest of her kin.  All of the communications were out, and Owen observed that it was the end of the world, and they should have a three-way.”  Jack bit back a smile, having heard this same story from Ianto later.  Esther continued, a hint of laughter in her voice, “Ianto rolled his eyes and sighed something to the effect of, _‘I didn’t think the end of the world could get any worse_.’  It made me laugh at the time, but I think I understand better.”

“You mean after having seen both Ianto and Tosh for yourself?” Jack teased gently, then yelped when Esther pinched his rear.  However, she was smiling as well, and Jack continued, “Ianto told me about that later, after … well, after everything ended.  Did Owen tell you what ended up happening to her?”  Esther nodded, looking sad, and Jack inquired, “And?”  Yes, he cheerfully admitted it, he was distracting her with talk of past Torchwood cases, but Jack had the sense that this was necessary.

Esther thought for a few minutes, before saying, “She held on, as long as she could.  And I think that while Beth wasn’t real, she … to her, this was her home, and she didn’t want to be responsible for destroying it.  She’d already killed her husband.  But it was only a matter of time before Beth was completely subsumed, and the real being arose.”  She paused, and then looked at him more closely, saying, “You’re giving serious thought to having me in the field, aren’t you?  And you want to make sure that I accept that’s not my sister.  I do, Jack.  My sister died in that car accident, and the … the … the husk that’s walking around right now is not her.  I just hope she stays away from Alys and Melanie.”

This was said in an undertone.  Jack thought back to what he learned from the Doctor and Rose, saying thoughtfully, “I think she’s more likely to head for you, sweetheart.  There was paperwork in the car, which I left with Carlyon and Sophia, and I saw your name on it.  From what I remember of the stories which the Doctor told me, it seems that while Sarah is gone, the Gelfth sort of has access to her memories.  What initially got the Doctor and Rose’s attention was a Gelfth inhabiting the body of an old woman.  She’d been anticipating a reading given by Charles Dickens in Cardiff, but died before the reading took place.  The Gelfth, in her body, went to the reading.”

“So … it was something she was anticipating, something she was looking forward to … some of the emotions spill over,” Esther murmured.  Jack could just about _hear_ the cogs and wheels turning in her mind, and while this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, he couldn’t deny that it worked as a distraction.  Esther was silent for several moments as she obviously worked through whatever was nagging at her.  At last, she said, still working through that something, “Jack, the last time she called here, before Mr. Tregarth forebode her from ever contacting me again and took whatever steps he took, she said something to me about deception, something about blaming her for something our parents did.   But I have no idea what she might have been talking about.  I wasn’t really … I was too upset at the time, because I didn’t mean to deceive her, even though that’s what I ended up doing.”  Jack didn’t answer immediately.  He … they  … needed to go back downstairs and talk to Carlyon and Sophia about whatever they found in those papers.  Jack knew his friends.  He knew that as soon as he and Esther left the room, they started going through that paperwork, because whatever affected Esther also affected them.

At last, he said softly, “Then what we’re going to do is get dressed, go back downstairs, and find out about what was in those papers.  Is it relevant to the current case?  I don’t know.  But I do _not_ want to be blindsided in the field.  The question is … are _you_ ready to find out whatever your parents were hiding from you?”  Esther, to her credit, didn’t answer immediately.  She rested her head on his chest, lightly stroking his hip.  Jack didn’t push her.  Instead, he continued to hold her, caressing her hair.

Finally, she replied, “Yes.  And even if I’m not, I should be.  You’re right, Jack.  Whatever Sarah was coming here to confront me about, whatever our parents hid … I need to know about it now, rather than when or if I get into the field.  This way … this way I have three days to absorb the information, rather than three minutes.”  Jack tightened his hold on his beautiful girl, and Esther clung to him in turn.  She whispered, “I don’t want to know, Jack.  I really don’t.  But I think I need to know, and maybe if we know in advance, that’ll give us an edge.”

What could he say to that?  After a moment, Esther said, her tone deliberately light, “I do have to say this, though.  After seeing both Tosh and Ianto for myself, I really can’t blame Owen for wanting a three-way.”  Jack laughed aloud and rolled to one side, so that Esther lay under him.  He proceeded to kiss her breathless.  Partly because he had a feeling she would need that memory later on … but mostly because he wanted to.  And she wasn’t exactly laying back and taking it … oh, no, not his Esther!

But eventually, they had to break the kiss … had to get dressed … had to return downstairs, hand-in-hand.  Not surprisingly (at least, not to Jack), there were only three people remaining in the common room.  Also not surprising was that it was Carlyon, Sophia, and Pilar Espinosa.  In fact, it seemed that the ones who were surprised were that trio.  Sophia was the first to look up, murmuring something to Pilar that was never quite completed.  But Esther’s eyes weren’t on Sophia, or Carlyon or Pilar … instead, they were on the stack of paperwork in Sophia’s lap.  Esther’s fingers tightened around his own.  A look that Jack could only describe as ‘guilty’ passed between his two old friends, but Sophia rose to her feet and said determinedly, “I’m so glad that you came back down.  Esther … dear heart, there’s something that you need to know.”

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if Lucas' idea would work scientifically. But I’m writing in a fandom that has an immortal hero who dies but can’t stay dead, so I’m really not that worried about it.


	13. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Priscilla learns about the fate of her daughter; Tosh and Owen talk things out; and the Gelfth once again underestimate humanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After fighting with the characters about how to deal with the final confrontation with the Gelfth, I bowed to superior numbers. I’m outnumbered with just Jack, but when it’s Jack and Tosh, there’s no hope. In any event, the epilogue will follow and then I’ll post ‘Prime and Prince.’ Once I work out a good summary, that is, because I’d really like to have 'Prime and Prince' posted by the time I leave for DragonCon at the end of next month.

While his wife was clasping Esther’s hands (their granddaughter’s hands), Carlyon left the room in search of Priscilla.  That was the other thing that he and Sophia decided before Esther and Jack rejoined them.  Priscilla had to know, sooner rather than later.  She had to know that her daughter, her first-born, was alive, and she had to know that Juliana spent the last twenty-six years as Esther Drummond.  As he sought out his eldest, he ran the words through his mind.  In a way, this would be far harder than telling Natalie that she was his daughter rather than his granddaughter … largely because he ended up dumping that responsibility on Jack’s shoulders by failing to act.  That wasn’t an option this time around.  He wouldn’t allow his oldest daughter to suffer for his cowardice.

He found Priscilla in the kitchen, humming under her breath as she read over the directions.  Carlyon smiled in spite of himself … evidently, she was trying something new.  Her blonde hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail, and for a moment, Carlyon saw the fourteen year old girl who found herself playing mother to her four year old sister.  But then, she looked up and her smile died slowly.  She asked anxiously, “Dad?  What’s wrong?”  Carlyon moved forward to take his daughter’s hands, just as his wife had taken their granddaughter’s hands.  Priscilla … Esther … Juliana.

“I … I don’t know how to tell you this, my dear girl.  Sarah Drummond … she was coming to tell Esther something incredibly important, something that affects us all,” Carlyon told his daughter.  Priscilla was frowning thoughtfully.  Oh, he was handling this so badly!  And it was about to get worse.  Praying that his girls would forgive him, Carlyon removed Robert Drummond’s letter from inside his jacket and handed it to his daughter, to Esther’s mother.  Esther’s mother.  Carlyon almost became dizzy with the thought.  Esther was his granddaughter, was Priscilla’s daughter, was Natalie and Octavia’s niece.

Priscilla took the letter from his fingers and stepped back to read it.  He watched his daughter’s face, as her confusion and concern gave way to shock, and then finally, the reaction he’d been waiting for … fury.  She placed the letter very gently on the counter when she finished (which impressed the hell out of Carlyon, as he wouldn’t have blamed her at all for setting fire to the damn thing) and turned her attention back to him.  Oh dear.  In a terrifyingly calm voice, “So.  Robert Drummond stole my daughter when his own died.  And before you try to tell me that people accused Natalie of stealing Ailsa, I will remind you that Beatriz was dying, and she _asked_ Natalie to take care of her.  It’s not the same thing, not the same thing at all.”

“No, my dear, it is not.  Not at all,” Carlyon agreed, because it wasn’t.  He didn’t tell his daughter that Robert believed his wife Bethany would follow their daughter into death.  He didn’t tell her that Robert and Bethany did a fine job with Esther.  He didn’t tell her that Robert never truly stopped regretting the pain he caused to their family.  She read some of that in the letter, she saw the truth of Esther’s upbringing every day.  That wasn’t the point.  None of those factors were the point, because Priscilla could have done a wonderful job of raising Esther … raising Juliana.

And then, all of that didn’t matter, because his little girl was looking at him, with tears in her eyes, and she told him, “My daughter’s alive, Daddy.  My Juliana is alive, and she’s a beautiful, amazing person.  I won’t ever forgive Robert Drummond for the years we lost, or for taking her from me, but my Juliana is _alive_.”  She bit her lip and ducked her head, murmuring, “I’m starting to understand how Mama felt when she woke up and Natalie couldn’t call her ‘mom,’ couldn’t call her anything but her name.”  She looked up at Carlyon, asking, “Esther … is she angry?  I mean … how did she take it?”

That … was actually a very good question, and he said as much.  For the first time since reading Robert Drummond’s letter, his daughter smiles and she said, a bit knowingly, “You left before she could react, didn’t you?”  Carlyon merely huffed at her, and Priscilla said seriously, “Thank you, Dad.  I know that wasn’t easy for you, any of it, and I’m grateful you told me … even more grateful that you told me before we went into the field.  That … that’s not how I would have wanted to learn about my daughter’s survival.  My little girl.”  There was an awe in her voice that Carlyon hadn’t heard in years.

He couldn’t accept her thanks, not when he didn’t really do anything … instead, he observed, “Of course, after you and Esther reconnect, our next hurtle will be telling Adriane.”  Carlyon almost laughed at Priscilla’s expression … that awe of a moment earlier combined with trepidation.  But his first-born was her mother’s daughter, and that awe and trepidation faded away to show only determination, the same determination that saw her through the hours, days, weeks and months after Juliana’s alleged death.

“Actually, Dad, our main hurtle will be preventing Adriane from digging up Robert Drummond and killing him again,” Priscilla answered dryly.  Carlyon winced, because she was absolutely right.  If there was anything he knew about Adriane, it was that she didn’t take insults or injuries to her family lightly, although she was still working out a way to top her youngest aunt’s response to Will’s break-up with Priscilla.  He gave a moment of thanks that there were no more Resurrection Gauntlets, because his granddaughter was more than capable of using the thing.  Yes, he knew that Robert Drummond was trying to save his wife, and yes, he knew that the man believed a single woman would find motherhood difficult, but he still hurt Carlyon’s family and the Torchwood figurehead wasn’t inclined to forgive him.  The only thing that might stop Adriane was the knowledge that resurrecting and then killing Robert Drummond again would only hurt Esther.  And knowing Adriane, she would be as viciously protective of her newly-discovered older sister as she was of her mother, aunts, and cousins.

Priscilla squeezed Carlyon’s hands, drawing his attention back to her, and she said, “I’m going to put my preparations back into the refrigerator.  I need to go … need to think.  If … if Esther needs to talk to me, tell her that I’ll be in the field.  Iolaire won’t let me ride her, but she’ll at least let me feed her apples.  And even if she won’t, Thor will.”  Carlyon smiled a little.  Contrary to popular belief, Thor wasn’t named after the Norse god of thunder … instead, he was named after ‘Thorin,’ the dwarven prince in ‘ _The Hobbit_.’  He kissed his daughter’s knuckles, something he hadn’t done since she was a very little girl, and was a little surprised when Priscilla’s hands slipped out of his and cupped his face.  She smiled at him, a little sadly, before leaving the kitchen.  Carlyon stood in the middle of the floor, realizing that she hadn’t put her preparations back into the refrigerator like she said.  That was no issue.  He could do that for her.  There were things he couldn’t do … like undo the past, give her back the twenty-six years she lost with her daughter … but right now, he would worry about the things he _could_ do.  He would think about the things he **would** do.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Owen Harper wouldn’t know about the domestic until much later.  All right, it wasn’t technically a domestic, because to the best of his knowledge, there was no screaming or ranting, but at the same time, it was a domestic, because it involved the domestic workings of the Tregarth family.  Besides, at that particular moment in time, he didn’t really care, because he had Tosh back.

It might just be for this week, and it might just be this half-way existence (which was curiously familiar), but he had her back and he would take it.  He also was beyond grateful for Adriane’s offer to watch over Toni.  The girl was likely still in danger, and Tosh was torn between staying with him and Jack (ooh, that brought some things to mind) and watching over Toni.  She offered him a smile as she left with the Webers and Nicky Halloran, eyes flickering back and forth between Owen and where she last saw Tosh.  She understood about things left unsaid, it would seem.  So, she took up guardianship duties, while her cousin puttered around in the medbay.

For her own part, Tosh looked around the new med-bay, the new Hub with obvious interest.  She knew by now about the Hub and about Ianto and about the children.  She knew, largely from Toni, about the Miracle, but that woman, Johnson … she was the sticking point for the tech wizard.  Owen watched as Tosh’s normally gentle face twisted with hatred when she spoke of that bitch that put a bomb inside Jack.  It was a good thing for her that Tosh was dead.  Otherwise, the tech would have made her life a living hell.  On the other hand, Owen wouldn’t swear that she wouldn’t do it anyhow.   Tosh was a bit like Tea Boy in that respect. You just never knew.  In a curious way, that made Tosh even more appealing to Owen now.

Lucas excused himself after a few minutes, leaving the two teammates who never had the chance to be lovers alone.  Owen made a mental note to thank the boy later, although he had the sense that the vibes between Torchwood’s doctor and its former techie were making the younger man extremely uncomfortable.  Once Lucas was in the former morgue (and prison cell), Owen turned his attention back to Tosh.  He wanted this for so long, and how that she was in front of him, now that he could see her … where did he start?  ‘ _How have you been_?’  Not sodding likely.  She’d been dead, just like he was.

However, it was Tosh who asked, “The place where you woke up, after you died … was it bad?”  Owen hesitated, because he wasn’t sure how to answer her honestly.  There were so many definitions of ‘bad,’ after all.  So, the best thing to do was to start with the basics.  It had a breathable atmosphere and he never went hungry; he found ways to provide for himself in the forms of clothing, water and shelter.  But … but he missed her.  He missed Tosh and Jack and … he missed being around other human beings.  He missed pizza and Chinese, fish and chips, and the smell of the air.  Hell, he even missed Cardiff!

At length, he replied, “In some ways.  Imagine playing a game that you’re just dropped into, without knowing the rules or what the sides are … and oh, if you lose this game, you lose your life.  That part got easier.  But missing you and Jack and even TeaBoy?  That part never went away, because I was the only human in that particular dimension.  And I was alone.  I thought I was alone before … after Katie died.  I wasn’t, not really.  But before I chased those bastards back through Rift to find them beating on Jack, I was alone … completely alone.  And then, like I said, one day … I’m home again, when I wasn’t even trying to get home.  I sometimes wonder if they’re alright in that realm.”

Tosh didn’t speak for a long time.  Nor did she comment on whom he missed.  Instead, she literally floated around the medbay, murmuring to herself about the various kinds of equipment, and wasn’t that in the original Hub?  Owen added, “After Jack left Earth, a former lover of his had his people scavenge what they could from the Hub … kept those things out of the hands who had no business touching them.”  That made Tosh smile, and Owen smiled back.

“Are you angry with him for leaving?” Tosh asked unexpectedly and Owen heard what she was **really** asking.  _Why aren’t you angry with him for leaving Earth after Ianto’s death, when you were angry with him for leaving after Abaddon_?  Owen took his time answering that question, because there was … things were different.  Especially now, after hearing what happened to their captain while he was away.  After Martha told them about the Master and the Doctor (pretentious git), some of Jack’s nightmares made a little more sense to Owen. 

“No.  No, Jack … you know, Natalie came up with this analogy once.  You don’t go to work when you’re sick … well, normal people don’t.  After what he had to do to save the world, after Ianto died, Jack was heart-sick.  He needed to leave, needed … I don’t like to use this word, but it’s the closest I can come to saying what needs to be said.  He needed to gain perspective, and he couldn’t do that here, not when … not when there were so many reminders.  And why should he stay, Tosh?  It’s not like after Abaddon, when we thought that he was punishing us for betraying him.  But at the same time, it is like after Abaddon, because both times, he was looking after himself.  The first time was to get answers he’d needed for a century … the second time was for the sake of his own sanity,” Owen finally replied.

Tosh stared at him for a very long time, and Owen was starting to get nervous when she smiled.  He’d forgotten how beautiful she was when she smiled.  And she said, “You changed while you were away, Owen.”  Uhm, Owen wasn’t sure if that was a good change or a bad change, but he _hoped_ it was a good change.  He thought it was a good change.  And he couldn’t deny that with his return, he was much closer to Jack.  Tosh said reflectively, “I like them, the changes in you.  And Jack … I think what startled me, more than anything, was that he still missed us.  For him, it’s been four years.  And then I realize, four years is a heartbeat for him.  While I was with Toni, I had a chance to think about what forever meant.”

Owen nodded numbly.  She added with a mischievous smirk, “That’s not the only thing that’s changed since you returned to our dimension.  I watched you with Jack earlier, the way you touched him.  The easy way you touch him, the way he accepts your touch.  You two have slept together, and not just slept.”  That astonished Owen.  He hadn’t realized that he was that obvious.  While his relationship with Jack was even more complicated now, there was an ease between them as a result of sharing a bed.  The young woman continued, “I must admit … the idea of you two, of watching the two of you …”  She left the rest unsaid, and Owen stared at his gentle, shy Tosh in astonishment.  Then again, he really shouldn’t have been surprised.  Tosh always had a slightly evil streak, was always more dangerous than she let on.  For the first time, Owen thought about what she could have done with that pendant of Mary’s if she really wanted to, and shuddered mentally.  Underestimating Tosh would be a very stupid idea.

“Knowing Jack, he’d probably welcome that.  Assuming he doesn’t invite you to join us.  I don’t think a lack of a corporeal body would inhibit him,” Owen admitted ruefully and Tosh just laughed aloud.  The doctor swallowed hard and he said quietly, forcing the words out he’d wanted to say ever since Tosh revealed herself in the kitchen, “I’m sorry, Tosh.  I’m sorry for the time I wasted, I’m sorry I was such a berk to you … I’m sorry for all of it.  You were always better than I deserved.”  Tosh’s smile turned a bit sad.  She didn’t say that it was all right, that it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t all right and it did matter.  But what she did say was far better than such banalities.

“I love you, Owen.  I always have.  Just make sure that you’re good to Adriane.  Yes, I saw the way you looked at her, the way she looked at you.  Be good to her, Owen, or I _will_ come back, and I _will_ kick your arse into the next century!  That’s assuming that Jack or one of her aunts doesn’t get there first,” she answered.  Owen felt his cheeks burn, because naturally, Tosh picked up on that.  And he really should have expected the next comment, as Tosh added almost off-handedly, “Of course, if she isn’t good to you, I’ll kick  her arse into the next millennium.”

Owen laughed outright and answered, “Jack already gave her the shovel talk, and then he gave me the exact same talk.”  He paused, remembering his own astonishment when he realized that Jack gave Adriane the shovel talk, for him.  Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was.  Tosh merely beamed at him, and he said, “There are so many things I want to say to you, Tosh, but I really don’t know where to start.”  There, the words were out.  Jack once told him that after Tosh and Owen were lost, he told the other two that they began at the end.  The trouble was, Owen wasn’t sure where the beginning or end was.

And Tosh offered him a gentle smile, replying, “We have three days, Owen.  I’ll go where you go, and we’ll say what needs to be said.”  Three days.  It was less than he would have liked, but more than he thought they would ever have when he returned to his home dimension and learned that Tosh was dead.  Three days until they met the Gelfth and led them into an ambush.  If it worked, they would be trapped.  If not … well, Owen hoped that Jack or one of the Tregarths had a back-up plan.  Despite the years he spent in the other dimension, Owen was no strategist and likely never would be.

He asked, briefly turning the conversation back to the task at hand (they were still Torchwood, after all), “Do you think this will work, Tosh?  This plan, I mean.”  Tosh gave a small shrug, and Owen murmured, “I suppose I should get organized, just in case things go pear-shaped.  What am I saying … of course things will go pear-shaped!  This is Torchwood … our plans never work out as we plan!”

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

_This is Torchwood … our plans never work out as we plan.  Except when they did_.

The plan worked exactly as it was put together.  It was almost anti-climatic, really.  Jack only died once (and that was due to the explosion, rather than the Gelfth suffocating him and then possessing him.  None of them wanted to think about a Gelfth-possessed Jack, including Jack himself).  As Tosh and Toni arranged, Torchwood met with the Gelfth three days later.  Toni’s mother wasn’t particularly happy about it, but Gideon Weber put his foot down.  Now that he saw what Toni was dealing with, given her sensitivity toward the Rift, he was whole-heartedly supporting his daughter … with conditions for Torchwood.  He believed in his daughter and what she had to do as a child of the Rift, but that didn’t mean he would allow her to go into a situation without protection and without back-up. 

There was no such thing as a hundred percent safety, but he insisted that Torchwood take every precaution they could to protect Toni, something they had no trouble doing.  It was for that reason, among others, that they opted not to Retcon Toni or her father.

Further, thanks to Pilar Espinosa’s planning (and her brother’s friends), only those who were killed in the traffic accident were taken by the Gelfth.  They were the first to be driven out of their stolen bodies.  Jack was still more than a little stunned that Pilar’s decision to warn the locals about a contaminant in the air (thus, they really needed to stay indoors) worked.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that she declared a state of emergency for the town, or that the businesses in town were still struggling from the Miracle.  (Not that he was going to thank the Families any time soon) He wouldn’t argue, though, with any of what she had to do to protect her town.  However, he was curious to know how she managed to get her hands on the explosives they needed.  Pilar merely smiled at him, but never answered.  That was fine.  As Sophia was so fond of telling him, a lady needed her secrets.

When they went into the field to lure the Gelfth into their trap, the Gelfth using Sarah Drummond’s body was the first to go.  It wasn’t Jack who did that, but Sophia … and she swore that for just a moment, Sarah peeked out from behind the Gelfth and looked grateful.  Jack didn’t know if that was possible, but he wasn’t about to argue with Sophia.  He knew better than that.  While that particular Gelfth was being eliminated, Pilar was making arrangements to get those corpses being used as bait to safety.  When questioned about it, Pilar merely said, “I was a Marine.  I don’t leave people behind if I can help it.  We don’t know who those people are, but if their families ever come looking for them, I want …”  She’d stopped, but Jack understood.  So did Carlyon. 

Her efforts paid off (although Jack didn’t ask how she managed that.  There were some things he didn’t _want_ to know and things he didn’t **need** to know), and all five corpses were being prepared for burial in a small section of the local cemetery.  They had no names, so Pilar was having ‘ _beloved by God_ ’ inscribed on each headstone for the time being.  Jack made no comment, despite knowing that there was nothing after … no God, no heaven, nothing.  That wasn’t the point.  It wasn’t about the lack of an afterlife or a real deity:  it was about showing respect to those five … the same respect that led him into a church after Miracle Day, when he thought Esther was dead.

Esther.  He looked to his right, where the blonde girl stood so resolutely.  Three days passed since their final confrontation with the Gelfth, and true to her word, Esther stayed out of the field.  She was still coming to grips with the knowledge that she had two sets of parents, and that she was literally stolen as an infant.  That was hard enough, but the discovery that her birth mother was among those who rescued her from the Families rattled her.  She didn’t trust herself in the field, and remaining in one of the converted caravans with Priscilla gave her time to bond with her mother and younger sister.  Adriane, not surprisingly, threatened to dig up Robert Drummond and bring him back to life, so she could kill him again.  Fortunately, she did this where Esther couldn’t hear her. 

“Jack.  It’s time,” Tosh said quietly, appearing before him.  They all stood outside the Tregarth home, in front of the bunkhouse.  Jack looked at his tech, who smiled at him tenderly, adding, “I’m waiting for the others to get here.  Esther, will you mind if someone else kisses your men?”  During the last few days, Tosh took to calling Jack and Owen Esther’s men.  A few times, she was even able to appear to Esther, and while Tosh was visible, the two talked.  Jack didn’t ask what they were talking about … not because he didn’t think they would tell him, but because it was entirely likely that they _would_.

Esther grinned now, replying, “I don’t tell Jack whom he can and can’t kiss, Toshiko.  Just as long as you ask their permission first.”  By now, Tosh knew the story of Suzie using Natalie to rescue Jack from the garage full of poisonous gas, and she shuddered.  However, she also nodded and Esther observed brightly, “That’s okay, then.  Especially if I can watch.”  Lucas and Jason stared at her in shock, and she asked, “What?  You don’t think I’d enjoy watching Jack get snogged by your mom or by Natalie?  Or, for that matter, by you two?”  Lucas squeaked and Jason blushed.

Jack glanced at Sophia, telling her, “Well, it’s official.  She’s definitely your granddaughter.”  Sophia smirked, while Esther responded with a full-body shudder.  While she seemed to be accepting that Priscilla was her birth mother, she was having a harder time with the idea that Sophia was her grandmother.  And the knowledge that Natalie was her aunt nearly broke her brain.  As Esther murmured after the Gelfth were no longer a threat, ‘ _she’s only nine years older than I am.  She should be my older sister, not my aunt_!’

“Of course she is,” Sophia answered serenely, beaming at her newly-discovered oldest granddaughter.  Despite Esther’s discomfort with having a grandmother who seemed to be only ten years older than she was, she was actually growing close to Sophia.  There were several times during the last three days that Jack found them in the communications room in the Hub, heads put together both literally and figuratively.  The red-head turned her attention to Tosh, saying, “You know, under ordinary circumstances, I’d be asking you if there’s anything you need for your journey.  But these aren’t ordinary circumstances.”

Tosh smirked at her a bit wickedly, asking, “There’s such a thing as ‘ _ordinary_ ’ in Torchwood?  Jack, you should have told me that!”  Sophia laughed and Tosh continued, “Everyone is here.  Natalie, are you ready?”  Jack blinked as the young woman nodded, looking a bit nervous, and Tosh continued, “It shouldn’t hurt.  I’ve never done this before, but the reason I chose you is because your brain waves were the closest to my own.  That should cut down on discomfort for us both.”  All right.  That was a surprise.

“I’m ready, Toshiko.  Ailsa, remember what I told you, sweetheart.  Stay with Aunt Tavia until you see Tosh again,” Natalie told her daughter, who was safely ensconced in Octavia’s arms.  The little girl nodded bravely, and Tosh vanished.  Natalie closed her eyes as soon as the tech vanished from view, and Jack found himself holding his breath.  But then, Nat opened her eyes and while he saw Natalie in there, he also saw Tosh.  She smiled, murmuring, “Oh.  Oh, that was much easier than I was anticipating.  Thank you again, Natalie, for letting me do this.  I know Suzie didn’t give you a choice, and I know that you were nervous … so thank you for this trust.”

Her gaze turned to Jack then, and she smiled.  It was strange, seeing Tosh smile with Natalie’s lips, but she still spoke with Natalie’s voice, saying, “I know I already said good-bye to you in that vid I left.  But there was so much more to say.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but …  You need to know, Jack, that it wasn’t your fault.  And I don’t have any regrets.  You got me out of that UNIT prison, you gave me everything you could and when you were able, you went behind UNIT’s back so I could see my family.  And don’t think I don’t know about the Brig’s hand in that.”  Jack couldn’t help but smile at that.  Tosh smiled back, saying softly, “I love you, Jack.  I always have, from the moment you swept into that UNIT cell.  And I always will.  I am so proud to have worked and fought and cried and lived beside you.”

With those words spoke, Tosh rocked up onto Natalie’s toes, slid her hand around the back of his neck, and just as Esther said she would, thoroughly snogged him.  Jack, because he was Jack, returned the kiss with equal fervor.  Tosh was right when she told Gwen that he shagged anyone who was gorgeous.  What Tosh perhaps neglected to mention (or didn’t know) was that he had his own idea of who was gorgeous.  Tosh was always something of a little sister or a daughter to Jack, but she was still gorgeous … and he loved her.

Tosh pulled away … and now he saw Tosh, rather than Nat … and smiled at him, saying in a low voice, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.  I even wanted to do that when you came back to us, but I didn’t want to get between you and Ianto.  Although, now that I think about it, maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad place to be.”  The innuendo was so unexpected, Jack couldn’t help but laugh.  Tosh grinned at him impishly and added a bit more seriously, “Be good to Esther.  She deserves only the best.”

Jack cupped her face in his hands, kissing her forehead as he whispered, “So do you.”  Tosh smiled up at him, kissing him again before moving reluctantly out of his arms.  Jack let her go, much as he wanted to hold onto her, because she had another, far more important good-bye that needed to be said.  Her good-bye to Toni came the previous day, when she vanished from the Tregarth homestead for an hour.  When she returned, she was blinking back tears, but said only that she would miss Toni far more than she realized.  And while she’d done it before, at the time it happened, Tosh again apologized for her reaction after the Faerie case. 

And then, Tosh was moving determinedly toward Owen.  He wondered whom the doctor was seeing:  Natalie or Tosh.  It didn’t really matter, he supposed.  She stopped in front of Owen, murmuring, “I do love you, you know.  Always have, even when you were a twat.  Maybe even especially when you were being a twat.”  Owen laughed a bit, and Jack saw him blinking back tears.  Tosh continued after a moment, “Be good to Adriane.  She isn’t me, she isn’t Katie, she’s Adriane.  And now, she has a big sister, so I wouldn’t cross Esther.”  That made Esther smile as she stepped to Jack’s side.

“I love you,” Owen said hoarsely.  Jack couldn’t see Tosh/Natalie’s face, but he did see the tremor that made its way down her body.  Owen whispered something that only she could hear, and then she stepped into his arms.  Owen held her tightly, murmuring, “I didn’t deserve you.  I never have.  I probably don’t deserve Adriane, either, but I’ll do my best to be the kind of man she needs and deserves.”  His arms tightened, at least until Tosh pulled back to kiss him.  Esther took his hand and he looked over at her, offering her a gentle smile.

Owen’s soft, ‘ _Easy, I’ve got you_ ,’ brought his attention back to his tech and his doctor.  Except Tosh stood clear now, and Natalie had collapsed into Owen’s arms.  Tosh smiled at them all, saying, “Thank you.  Thank all of you.”  And then … she was gone.  Jack stared at the space where she stood, ignoring Owen gently lowering Natalie to the ground, and Natalie murmuring about being aware while Tosh inhabited her body.  Because the last thing he heard as Tosh vanished was, ‘ _I’ll always be here, Jack.  Even if you can’t see me … I’ll always be here_.’

**Always**.

 

To be concluded in the epilogue


	14. Epilogue:  Resurrection and Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here be the finale of The Hidden Child, in which the ground work for The Two Captains is laid, Tosh’s fate is revealed, and a man thought dead turns out to be anything but. (smirks) I guess he didn’t realize that when he chose to assist Rassilon’s child, he would later be protected by Rassilon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride, even though it took us to places none of us were anticipating (including me, and I’m writing the damn thing). In this chapter, Torchwood America views the Battle of New York; Tosh wakes up in an unfamiliar place; and the Tregarths get a call about a particular casualty of the aforementioned attack. Prime and Prince will likely be up in a matter of days (if not tomorrow).

Tregarth Homestead, Oklahoma

Six Weeks Later

 

 

In May of 2012, along with the rest of the world, Torchwood got its first look at the Avengers when the younger Asgardian prince Loki and an alien race known as the Chitauri attacked New York City on behalf of a very nasty individual known as ‘Thanos.’  It began for the Oklahoma branch when Jason Tregarth called from the TV room or den (depending on who was talking), “Guys, you’ve gotta see this!  All hell is breaking loose in New York!”  Sophia Tregarth, who was going over the budget for their branch of Torchwood in the kitchen with Carlyon and Priscilla, ignored her husband’s muttered, ‘ _So what else is new_?’ as they trailed into the den.  He never particularly liked the Big Apple.  When they reached the den, Jack was already there, Ailsa half asleep in his lap with Sophia’s youngest daughter and oldest granddaughter flanking him.  Sophia mentally congratulated herself on making progress in thinking of Esther as her granddaughter, before she asked her oldest grandson what was happening.  At her signal, Priscilla ran from the house to retrieve Octavia and Rex … hopefully, they had their clothes on.

It was Jack who answered quietly, blue eyes flashing, “New York City is under attack from the Chitauri.  Yes, I’ve heard of them; no, this wasn’t mentioned in my history books to the best of my recollection.  Not that it necessarily means anything.  I’ve seen a lot of things happen that weren’t in my history books, including the 456 and the Miracle.  They’re from another dimension, answering to a very nasty individual called ‘Thanos.’  At the moment, though, the one leading their army is Loki.  Yes, Loki is real, as is Thor … as well as Odin, Frigga, and others.   But here’s the interesting thing … there’s organized resistance to the attack, and I don’t mean the Army or the police department.”

For the first time, Sophia noticed a figure in red and gold armor swooping about.  Jack nodded to that figure, saying, “That’s Anthony Edward Stark, the son of Howard Stark … also known as Iron Man.  Several years ago, after being kidnapped by a terrorist organization, Tony constructed that suit to escape.  There’s a lot more information, but I’ll let you work that out.”  That was Howard Stark’s son?  Sophia met him a few years before she encountered Carlyon for the first time … found him very charming, very driven and quite brilliant.  It was her father who introduced the young engineer to the people in the war effort who would need his skills.  And now, Howard’s son was grown up and doing the same kind of work as his father, just in a different way. 

A rather large green … entity was the next individual Jack pointed out to them, saying, “That’s the Hulk, the alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner.  That’s a long story, but whenever Dr. Banner gets angry or his emotions get out of control, he changes into the Hulk.  Think Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only the Hulk is angry rather than evil.  For obvious reasons, he tries to stay one step ahead of most agencies.  Yvonne Hartman would have loved to get her hands on him … or Iron Man, for that matter.”  Sophia winced, because at this point, she heard the story of the Fall of Canary Wharf and Torchwood One from both her husband and Jack.

And speaking of her immortal friend, he was wearing an odd little smile, murmuring, “That … that’s Steve Rogers.  Sophia, they found Captain America!”  A closer look at the TV revealed a young man wearing the colors of her country directing the others, and Jack breathed, “This is it.  We’re watching the first mission, the first battle of the Avengers.  I knew about the Avengers, but not much was said about their first mission as a team.”  Sophia bit back a smile, because her jaded immortal friend sounded like a little boy who was seeing his heroes.  And then, the true import of what Jack just said hit her.  They found Captain America.

“He crashed into the ice toward the end of the war,” Carlyon explained to the younger members of their family, “the only super soldier who came to be after Dr. Erskine defected to the Allies.  That poor boy.  I can’t imagine how he felt when he woke up seventy years later, and his entire world was gone.”  Sophia swallowed hard, because she could imagine just that.  She was in Steve Rogers’ boots recently, and she knew what he was facing.  She, at least, had the advantage of being involved with Torchwood.  That eased her into the twenty-first century technology.  The tightening of Carlyon’s fingers around her own told her that her husband was thinking more or less the same thing.

“So this super soldier thing is what kept him alive for seventy years under the ice?” Natalie inquired and Sophia nodded.  Her youngest murmured, “I would imagine that it would be something like suspended animation?”  This time, both Sophia and Jack nodded, and she shook her head sadly.  Sophia smiled at her daughter, before returning her attention to the TV.

“What does this mean for us, Grandfather?” Jason asked, leaning against the door.  All eyes turned to him, and the former soldier continued, “I mean, Jack just told us that Asgard and everything that comes with it is real … he told us about the Chi-whatever they are.  Torchwood is designed to protect humanity against extraterrestrial threats.  So, will Torchwood ally itself with the Avengers, or will it be like UNIT and Torchwood?  You forget, Grandfather, I’ve heard you tell off UNIT as only you can.”  That made everyone laugh, because while Carlyon had the reputation for being a gentleman, he learned from the Queen how to tell someone off without using vulgar language.

And it was Jack who answered, “We don’t know, Jason.  That’s going to depend on them.”  Sophia merely raised her brows at him, and Jack added, “All right, on us, too.  But we’ll have to see what happens.”  Sophia was better able to play the wait and see game … she did it for such a long time, but right now, it was their best option.  Esther was nearly done with her project … the one that involved Sophia eventually seeing her only remaining sibling … and then, Sophia thought she would unleash the girl on the Avengers.  Torchwood couldn’t do it alone.  UNIT couldn’t do it alone.  Their best chance at protecting their world came from working together.

She just hoped they could do that.

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

Colasanto Compound, Nevada

Roughly the same time period

 

 

It seemed like one moment, Tosh was saying good-bye to Jack and Owen in Natalie Tregarth’s body (and that was a debt she would never be able to repay, not after what Suzie did to her) … and the next, she bolted upright, coughing and wheezing.  It hurt, oh gods, it hurt!  A pair of arms wrapped around her, whispering that everything was okay, she was fine, just relax, it was okay, _just breathe, sweetheart_.  And that’s when it hit Tosh.  She was breathing.  She was breathing, and arms were wrapped around her body. 

As if that wasn’t enough of a shock, the owner of the voice (and arms) pulled back, and Tosh found herself looking into the familiar dark eyes of Suzie Costello.  Suzie smiled a little, saying softly, “Hi, Tosh.  Surprised?”  That … would be an understatement to end all understatements.  Even Ianto would have been boggled by that statement.  Suzie’s smile brightened, ever so slightly, and she said, “I know what you’re thinking, but yes, you’re alive, and yes, you’re in your own body.  Our benefactor isn’t the one who unleashed your spirit, but he decided to use it as a test for you.  A test you passed with flying colors.”

She was really alive.  Tosh took another breath.  She was alive, and so was Suzie.  Tosh stared at the other woman, the woman who was once her friend.  She thought about the last time she saw Suzie … the one who was her friend, not the one brought back by the Resurrection Gauntlet.  And then she slapped her as hard as she could.  The impact turned Suzie’s head to one side, and she muttered, “Okay, I have to admit, I had that coming.”  She did not, however, take any action against Tosh.

“How could you?  Suzie, how could you?” the newly-awakened tech cried out.  Suzie didn’t answer, and Tosh continued, “How is it that you’re even alive?”  For that matter, how was it that she was alive?  And in her own body, come to that?  For the first time, Tosh realized that she was lying in a bed and that there was a slightly musty smell in the air.  A shadow moved behind Suzie and Tosh looked up to see a tall, dark-haired man standing in the background.  He moved out of the shadows before kneeling beside Suzie and the bed where Tosh was reclining.

“Hello, child.  I am Rassilon, Lord President of Gallifrey, first among Time Lords,” the man said.  He looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties.  As she noted earlier, he had dark hair and strangely familiar blue eyes.  He smiled gently, adding, “However, the more important answer to your question is, you’re alive because you should have never died.  I can see all of time and space, and I tell you now, Toshiko Sato that you, Suzie, Ianto Jones and Owen Harper were never supposed to die.  I could not prevent those events from happening, nor could I warn my son, but I _am_ taking action now.”

Tosh swallowed hard.  Time Lords, the race of beings that the Doctor was.  She met him once, while Owen was hung over, and according to Jack, that was his Ninth incarnation … the version of the Doctor that Jack also met for the first time.  She wasn’t nearly as familiar with Rassilon.  Nor was she familiar with something else he mentioned.  Tosh asked with a glance to Suzie, who took her hand, “Is the Doctor your son, Lord President?”  She was quite astonished when he threw his head back and laughed.  It seemed as if he was rusty at laughing, but the sound was genuine, nonetheless.

“No, my dear.  The Doctor … or rather, particular incarnations of him … is the Time Lord I trust above all others.  However, he is not my son.  You know my son.  You said good-bye to him with a kiss, nearly six weeks ago,” the Time Lord replied.  Tosh blinked at him in astonishment.  Six weeks?  It was six weeks since she said good-bye to Jack and Owen, since she told Jack that she would be with him always (ignore the silly remarks about the Force, she was no Obi-Wan Kenobi, and wouldn’t Ianto be proud of her?).

And in a way, that observation was more apt than she thought, because Suzie said very softly, “Tosh … Rassilon is Jack’s father.”  Tosh looked from her to their unexpected benefactor, and things fell into place.  He smiled at her gently.  Jack’s father.  His comments about being unable to warn his son.  It all made sense now.  Sort of.  Suzie continued, “Tosh, I know you have no reason to trust me.  I know that my actions hurt you, and Owen, and Ianto, and Jack.  But Rassilon gave me another chance … a chance to protect those I hurt, a chance to get it right.”  And that explained something else.  Suzie continued, “I got a third chance, and it’s not easy, but I’m making the best of it.”

“Before you ask, Toshiko, you will not be reuniting with my son and Dr. Harper.  Not yet, at least.  I am a stranger in a strange land, as your science fiction writer Heinlein once wrote, and I find that I am like the Doctor.  I need companions.  I need you to be my companion.  There are things that I need to teach you, and things which I need you to teach me,” Rassilon explained.  Tosh thought about that.  She knew from the files she hacked that the Doctor had companions (or more appropriately, Companions), of which Jack was one for several months.

“What does a Companion do?  From what you’ve said, you’re staying here on Earth?  Speaking of which, where are we?” Tosh asked.  She wondered if this was how Jack felt when he realized that Tosh was real.  That brought Toni to mind, and she hoped the girl was all right.  When she said good-bye to the teenager, her father and mother were still arguing over whether Toni would be grounded.  Gideon Weber was holding his ground (no pun intended), because he was with her during the entire mess.  It seemed that he usually gave way to her mother … usually being the operative word.

“Yes, I will be staying on Earth.  This is where my son is, after all.  I couldn’t be there for the first few centuries of his life.  I couldn’t be there for him when his world was torn apart, or when the Families sought to finish was started all those years ago.  So long as Jack remains here, I will also remain,” Rassilon answered.  Tosh swallowed hard.  The words were so simple.  It was a matter as simple and as complicated as a father’s love for his son.  Rassilon continued after a moment, “We are currently in Nevada, at the Colasanto compound.  Ah … the Colasantos.  Angelo Colasanto … he was a former lover of Jack’s, and the inadvertent cause of the Miracle.  That’s a story for another day.  Still, his grandson’s assistance to my son was invaluable, and I believe in rewarding assistance.”

Yes, and it was now a story that Tosh was determined to hear.  Especially after she saw the somewhat troubled expression on Suzie’s face.  Rassilon went on after a moment, “As to what you will do … think of yourself as a personal assistant to a Time Lord.  You will teach me about this world and about this time.  Oh, there are many things I know, but just as many things I do not.  In return, I will teach you things that you never dreamed possible, not even as a member of Torchwood.  And when the time comes, Toshiko Sato, you will help me take down the Families.  For what they did to my son, for what they tried to do to this world.”

The Time Lord’s bright blue eyes flashed with a cold rage as he spoke of the Families’ crimes against his son and against humanity.  Tosh stared at this alien who was so curiously human.  She asked slowly, “A moment ago, you said that none of us were supposed to die … are you the one who brought Owen back?”  Now Rassilon smiled, inclining his head.  Tosh thought about that, thought about how that was possible … about the power that was required to do such a thing.  She continued, “How?”

“What your Ianto Jones took to calling, ‘ _the Risen Mitten_.’  It was mine.  That made Owen Harper and Suzie Costello mine as well,” Rassilon answered.  Tosh blinked and thought that through.  That made sense, really.  Rassilon went on, perhaps to further explain himself, “The Gauntlet was used on both of them, and Suzie used it herself.  That was a connection by itself.”  Yes, she would imagine so.  The Time Lord added, very quietly, “Besides, Jack loves you.  All of you.  That was reason enough for me to bring you back.”

Well.  What could she say to that?  Not much, Tosh realized.  Rassilon seemed to understand this, adding, “Now, as to how we’re at the Colasanto compound … Angelo left it to Natalie Tregarth.  He didn’t fully trust his granddaughter and primary heiress, for good reason as it turns out.  And I’ve been working here as a gardener.  It was Natalie’s decision that the staff would remain.  Suzie has been assisting the Colasanto barrister, Angelo’s grandson, with the logistics of turning the compound into the American version of Flat Holm.” 

Tosh exhaled slowly.  Suzie’s task was to help convert this property into a new version of Flat Holm.  And her task was to assist Rassilon in acclimating to Earth and the customs of Earth.  She thought about Jack and Owen, thought about the first time she’d seen Jack, and the offer he’d made her.  Jack offered her a second chance at life, and here was his father, doing the exact same thing.  Suzie said nothing, just stared at her steadily.  She wouldn’t be reunited with Jack, not yet … or with Owen.  But when Rassilon felt the time was right, when he learned what he needed to learn from her … she could return to those she loved most.  At last, Tosh returned her gaze to the patiently-waiting Rassilon and said, “Count me in.”  And Rassilon smiled.  The die was cast and Tosh’s fate was once more tied to Torchwood.

 

 

 

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

 

 

 

Tregarth Homestead, Oklahoma

Four days after the Battle of New York

 

 

Since the battle between the Avengers and the Chitauri, casualty reports were in the paper on a daily basis.  In truth, for the three remaining members of the Torchwood team during the Miracle, it brought back memories of Vera’s death and having her last moments on the news to bring attention to those modules.  It wasn’t the same, but at the same time, it was.  New York was kept out of the hands of the invaders at a high cost.  But, Jack informed them darkly, the price could have been far higher.  The Tregarths (and the rest of Torchwood, for that matter) tended to listen to him when he said things like that.  He had first- hand knowledge of that cost.  Even so, none of them were expecting to know someone who died in New York … not until Sophia Tregarth gasped aloud in horror as she read the morning paper.

Esther, who was sitting opposite her grandmother at the table, looked up from her orange juice and English muffin, and Sophia said in a trembling voice, “I was just reading through the list of those who were killed in the battle and recognized one of the names.  Phil Coulson, someone we met at the Colasanto estate while we were there.  He was one of Angelo’s grandchildren, and told me the name he adopted before we returned.”  Sophia swallowed hard, and Esther reached across the table to take her hand.

Little by little, she was accepting her new place in the Tregarth family.  As she told her birth mother on the day they both learned the truth, she was already growing to love her birth family.  But she begged her not to ask her to hate the people who raised her.  She accepted that she was stolen from the Tregarths, stolen from Priscilla … from the mother who already chose to raise her.  But she could never hate the people who raised her, and Priscilla assured her that she would never ask such a thing.  However, she shouldn’t be surprised if Adriane had a hard time controlling her hatred of Robert Drummond.  Esther, who was the actual older sister for the first time in her life, understood that.  It wasn’t just that Adriane was robbed of her older sister … it was that her father’s actions hurt her mother so deeply.

If there was any blessing in the situation, it was that none of her new family called her ‘Juliana.’  That was the name given to her at birth, but she wasn’t Juliana.  She was never Juliana, something her birth mother and the rest of her biological family accepted.  Esther went from having to her sister and two nieces to having a set of grandparents, a mother, a younger sister, two young aunts, and three cousins … as well as Melanie and Alys, who firmly told her that they didn’t care what her name was when she was born.  She was still their aunt, and she always would be.  Steps were being taken to ensure that the girls would remain right where they were.

Now, as she sat across from her grandmother, fingers entwined, she murmured, “I’m so sorry, Sophia.”  She was rewarded with a weak smile.  Not for the first time, Esther thought about what her grandmother endured since awakening in the twenty-first century.  When Jack revealed that Captain Rogers was found and de-iced, Esther found herself glancing at her grandmother.  The circumstances were quite different, but just like the other members of their family, Esther could see the similarities.

At the present, they were the only ones in the house.  Octavia took Ailsa and Adriane shopping; Rex and Priscilla were going over a supply master list in the new Hub (which was still called the Hub, despite Owen’s pleas to rename it); Natalie and Jack were literally in the field, as he taught her about the Rift; while Carlyon took Owen, Jason and Lucas to the police station as part of the new program between Torchwood and the sheriff’s department.  Esther was still not entirely sure what she was doing with herself for the rest of the day, but she knew better than to think that it would be a slow day.  She’d been with the Tregarths and with Torchwood too long to make any such assumptions.

She was on the point of saying something to her grandmother, perhaps a suggestion of what they could do (something was said about Esther learning to ride), but it was at that point that the phone rang.  Sophia rolled her eyes and waved her to go ahead and answer the phone.  Esther grinned and rose to her feet, striding over to the phone in the kitchen.  On the second ring, she said, “You’ve reached the Tregarth home, this is Esther Drummond.”  As soon as the words were out, she cast a guilty glance over her shoulder at her grandmother, but Sophia seemed neither hurt nor upset by her introduction.

A masculine voice said, “Ms. Drummond, my name is Colonel Nick Fury of SHIELD.  Is a member of the Tregarth family there for me to talk to?”  Esther almost passed the phone to Sophia, until she remembered that despite her name, she _was_ a Tregarth. 

With that in mind, she replied, “My last name is ‘Drummond,’ Colonel Fury, but I’m a member of the Tregarth family.”  That response made Sophia smile … however, she rose to her feet and joined Esther, pressing her ear against the receiver from the other end.  Eavesdropping, Torchwood style.  Actually, knowing both of her grandparents, Esther had a feeling that Sophia could hear this conversation on both ends just as well as Esther herself did.  According to Priscilla, Carlyon often tinkered with appliances (and phones) so they worked more efficiently.  That included tinkering with the aforementioned phones so that pressing one’s ear against the other side of the receiver (as her grandmother was doing now) could hear the conversation in full.  Esther thought briefly about pointing this out to Rex, and decided not to.  He was still reeling from the news that she was born Juliana Tregarth.

There was a brief silence, then Colonel Fury continued, “Very well, then.  Several months ago, a few members of your family met a man who is in my employ … one Philip Coulson, whose birth name is Colasanto.”  Esther froze and her eyes met Sophia’s.  Colonel Fury went on, “Just before the Battle of New York, Agent Coulson confronted one of the hostiles and was mortally wounded.  Our medics called it … but he survived.  For his own safety, we need to move him from the helicarrier … and your family is our best bet.”

Sophia’s mouth was opening and closing rapidly, reminding Esther a bit of a landed fish.  But she bobbed her head wildly, and Esther replied, “Colonel Fury, it would be our pleasure to look after Agent Coulson.  How soon would you like us to pick him up?”  There was more than a little relief in the Colonel’s voice when he requested a pick-up date in two days.  Sophia once again nodded, and Esther told him, “That’ll be fine, Colonel.  My cousins will meet you at your requested coordinates with our chopper, and in the meantime, we’ll get things in our house ready for his arrival.”

“Thank you, Ms. Drummond … your assistance in this will not be forgotten,” Colonel Fury said.  Esther merely smiled and told him that he was more than welcome.  She had just enough time to hang up the phone before her grandmother threw her arms around her, drawing a squeak from Esther.  But she laughed and returned the embrace with interest.  One of the first things she learned about Torchwood was that life and death weren’t so easily defined.  It seemed that was becoming true for people on the peripherals. 

Once Sophia released her, Esther said softly, “I’ll let you brief the others … there’s a free bedroom on the ground level, and I’ll start getting that ready for Agent Coulson.  I’m so glad I wasn’t anticipating having a quiet day!”  That made her grandmother laugh and Esther returned to the table long enough to finish her juice and English muffin.  She heard Jason refer to her once as the ‘ _hidden child_ ,’ even though no one knew she was hidden.  No one even knew she was alive.  But she was hidden no more.  Her life would be far more complicated from this point on … her grandfather and two older aunts made a number of enemies.  But she was far safer with the Tregarths than she was on her own, and she was learning a few tricks to protect herself.

The Families were still out there … and Torchwood was waiting.

 

 

FIN


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